Thought For The Week: “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” Charles Dickens

Posted on June 22, 2026
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Sometimes I Hate It When I’m Right

Posted on June 19, 2026

Earlier this year, I wrote a blog titled “Let’s Take a Step Back” addressing a new practice by BigLaw of recruiting first-year law students for summer associate positions — in some cases, even before the fall semester had started. I took issue with that practice from both my own experience as a 1L and from my experience teaching 1Ls at Georgetown Law. I encouraged law students who agreed with me to contact the ABA to protest the practice and to request a return to the “Hands Off 1Ls Until October 15” that law schools had agreed to in the past.

Results of a survey of more than 2,000 law students conducted last fall by the Law School Admission Council and the National Association for Law Placement were released recently. According to the survey, 56% of first year law students said that accelerated large firm recruiting timelines for summer associate positions had a negative impact on their first year of law school. And just 4% of students reported a positive impact.

The negative impacts reported in the survey included the inability to prioritize academic work and also focus on career planning. Even those students without aspirations to work at a large law firm said the new practice injected additional stress and pressure on campus. One student put it very bluntly, “Someone stop them from doing this again because it sucks, and nobody can actually focus on learning.”

Hopefully BigLaw has read the same survey results and will do the right thing and reverse the new recruiting practice. Keep your eyes on late summer and early fall to gauge whether they care more about young lawyers or about exercising their competitive edge.

Sometimes I hated it when I’m right. This is one of those times. This never should have happened in the first place and the geniuses at BigLaw should have known it would put students at risk.

And what about the law school placement officials? Shouldn’t they have known that this would be a problem?

Makes me wonder what other kinds of sweetheart deals are going on.

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Thought For The Week: “Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.” Albert Camus

Posted on June 18, 2026

Sorry this is coming so late in the week. I was distracted on Monday by a long lunch with a colleague from 40 years ago. Yes, we practiced law together 40 years ago, and we are still friends to this day. She is still practicing, and I am still writing. That is the way it should be,

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The Administration Strikes Again!

Posted on June 11, 2026

I am saddened to see what has happened to Diversity Lab and its founder, Caren Ulrich Stacey. If you have not heard, this is how it went down.

As if attacks on law firms directly were not enough for the Administration’s thirst for revenge, there has been a second round of attacks to assure that law firms are brought “into line.” In January 2026, the FTC sent threatening letters to law firms that had a relationship with Diversity Lab, an equity and inclusion effort on behalf of lawyers. The specific issue was Diversity Lab’s recognition of participating law firms for achieving “Mansfield Certification” based on meeting diversity and equity goals and advancing all talent into leadership. The letters that the FTC sent to 42 major U.S. law firms cautioned that participation in Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Certification might expose those firms to liability under both Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

That sounds right, yeh? Diversity and inclusion efforts violating the Sherman Act or principles of free trade? And you can probably predict the rest. Law firms became antsy about the Administration’s bogus claims, and they took the risk management route and broke ties with Diversity Lab. Over time, Diversity Lab was forced to close its doors.

In an open letter recently, Caren Stacy stated:
Mansfield [certification] does not establish quotas. It does not set aside positions. It does not require anyone to hire or promote anyone based on demographics. It requires only that participating firms and legal departments make their advancement practices transparent and consider all qualified talent so that merit-based decisions can be made.

These results were not the end goal, they were a means to better legal service. Diverse teams and perspectives produce sharper thinking, stronger solutions, and better service in an increasingly complex client landscape. Mansfield helped bring more perspectives to the table.

In my career, I have worked with Caren Stacey on issues of advancing young lawyers in the profession. She is the founder of both Diversity Lab and its predecessor OnRamp Fellowship, which began at approximately the same time that I founded Best Friends at the Bar.

I applaud the accomplishments of Caren Stacey, and I look forward to her next project when the time is right again. She is a powerful force in the advancement of legal talent, and she cannot be counted out.

And I abhor the combination of threats and attacks that closed her down.

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Thought For The Week: “Be Yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde

Posted on June 8, 2026
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What’s Going on with Bar Exams?

Posted on June 6, 2026

It is nearly bar exam season. Even though some of us never thought we would see the day, the bar exam is changing. Here’s how.

Bar exams have been a requirement for lawyers from what seems like the beginning of time. However, there are some new developments in the last few years that you need to know about. It seems very clear now that the content of bar exams, and even the requirement for them, is changing.

After complaints about the content of bar exams from a variety of sources, the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) has redesigned the bar exam — for the first time in 25 years. That revision is known as the NextGenBar exam, and, as of May 2026, it has been adopted by 45 of the 56 jurisdictions which require passage of a bar exam for practice certification.

According to the NCBE, there is a phased roll-out of the NextGen bar exam that is currently underway. The first phase will be administered in July 2026 and the last phase after 2028. The schedule is as follows:

• July 2026 (Launch): CT, GU, ID, MD, MO, NMI, OR, PW, VI, WA.
• July 2027: AZ, IA, KY, MN, NE, NM, ND, OK, SD, TN, VT, WV, WY.
• February 2028: DE, DC, IL.
• July 2028: AL, AK, CO, FL, GA, HI, IN, KS, ME, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TX, UT, VA, WI.
• TBD: MS.

As I understand it, the new model is not as top heavy on memorization of the elements of causes of action and the minute requirements of civil procedure as bar exams of the past. Apparently there has been recognition that those are the kinds of details that any lawyer would be a fool not to research and update to avoid malpractice, and the new version will include more emphasis on logical reasoning. So, all of us who suffered through the old version and its emphasis on details should get together for a mass Pity Party.

And for another twist on the subject of bar exams, keep your eye on which jurisdictions are now allowing lawyers to skip the bar exam altogether. What once was a lone exception to the rule, the State Bar of Wisconsin for many years has allowed graduates of Wisconsin’s two law schools the privilege of practicing law in the State of Wisconsin without passing the state’s bar exam. This is known as Diploma Privilege, and there are now additional jurisdictions formulating their own similar exceptions, like apprenticeships for example, as substitutes for bar passage.

Also, as of 2026, four states allow a person to take the bar exam without attending law school. Those states are California, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. In lieu of law school graduation, these states require “Reading the Law,” a structured law office study program or apprenticeship under the supervision of a practicing attorney or judge. The requirements of these four jurisdictions that allow reading the law differ by state. In addition, the state of New York allows an individual to take the bar exam with only one year of law school combined with three years of law office study. And, if you pass the bar exam of a particular state, you are licensed to practice in that state but not others.

To all of you recent law school graduates, good luck on the bar exam. I hope this Next Gen Bar exam yields better reviews and more favorable results.

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Thought For The Week: “You don’t always have to be doing something. You can just be, and that’s plenty.” Alice Walker

Posted on June 1, 2026

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Heads Up! Fraudsters May Be Tracking You

Posted on May 29, 2026

I regret to report that I have been targeted again by phishers and fraudsters on the Internet. It is a really disturbing and uncomfortable experience, and it can become serious if you fail to pay close attention to unsolicited emails and offers and continue to communicate with the senders.

I had forgotten how disturbing it is to be targeted in this way, and I now know that the phishers and fraudsters are getting very sophisticated. In my case, they purport to be very interested in my books and accurately reference some of the content. They sound very legitimate UNTIL a close look at the wording of the email discloses the voice of AI, which draws from content on websites and other personal information sources in the public domain.

Many of these phishers and fraudsters are assuming false identities and are using the names and titles of other people. So a search on Linkedin or Facebook or your other search tool of choice will confirm the identity of the person the email sender purports to be and can lure you into a false state of security. You feel like you have done your due diligence, but it is not enough.

You need to take additional steps. You need to check the email address of the sender and compare it with the email address of the actual person you have discovered in your search. If the emails are different, it should be a huge red flag that you are dealing with someone who has stolen an identity.

And if the email includes a photo of the sender, compare that photo with the photo you found on Facebook or another search source. If the photos are different, you have further proof that someone wants to do you harm. And if there is no photo on the email, a Zoom call will accomplish the same verification — or lack of it.

The bottom line is that you absolutely must not send money or your work product or anything else you value to these people. I know of one lawyer, someone I respect very much, who did that, and lived to regret it. Lawyers are vulnerable to flattery just like anyone else.

This kind of fraud is running rampant today. Get the protections you need and be diligent. And if you are attacked by someone who has stolen an identity, report it to the victim of the identity theft. And to law enforcement. This is very serious stuff.

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