Joe Patrice

Joe Patrice

Host of Above the Law - Thinking Like a Lawyer

Joe Patrice is an Editor at Above the Law. For over a decade, he practiced as a litigator at both Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and Lankler Siffert & Wohl, representing a variety of individuals, institutions, and foreign sovereigns in criminal and civil matters. Then Joe left private practice to concentrate on making snide remarks about other lawyers which is at least as fulfilling as motion practice.

Recent Episodes
August 6, 2025

The Bar Exam Death Drive Becomes Dangerously Literal

And Coldplay and pierogis.

July 30, 2025

Lawyers Getting Really High On AI Hallucinations

Get it together, people!

July 16, 2025

Who Knew Biting Other Lawyers Was Frowned Upon?

Lots to chew on this week.

July 9, 2025

The Hallucinations Are Winning

Law firm mergers and John Roberts brags for the crowd.

July 2, 2025

Supreme Court A Hot Mess

The Term ended with a whole lot of nonsense.

June 25, 2025

You Catch More Judges With ‘Honey’ Than With Vinegar

And the Supreme Court has a wild one.

June 18, 2025

The Jerkstore Called, They’re Not Running Out Of Lawyers

Also, the role of bar associations in 2025.

June 11, 2025

So Long And Thanks For All The Bonuses

Caving law firms experience exodus.

June 4, 2025

Sex Asteroids, Sleazebags, And Meme Police

Quite the combination of words.

May 28, 2025

Supreme Court Just Making It Up As It Goes Along

From the administrative state to voting rights, they're just sort of winging it trying to reverse engineer results.

May 21, 2025

Are Those Seashells In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Threatening An Assassination?

Seashellgate meets Surrendergate.

May 14, 2025

Bold Strategy Biglaw, Let’s See If It Pays Off

What if we just act like nothing happened?

May 7, 2025

Biglaw Firms Fighting Trump Keep Winning, Capitulators Keep Losing

It was a bad week to compromise your values.

April 23, 2025

Biglaw Brings In Big Bucks

And the world continues to melt.

April 16, 2025

Law School Ranking Chaos And Biglaw Trump Deals Turn Sour

And the Supreme Court edges toward a full blown crisis.

April 9, 2025

Biglaw Surrender Fallout Continues

And now we have a tracker for that!

April 2, 2025

Fight Or Flight… The Biglaw Conundrum

A great divide is developing.

March 26, 2025

Paul Weiss Waves The White Flag

Courage seems to be in short supply in Biglaw.

March 19, 2025

Biglaw Struggling To Deal With Trump Chaos

There's no escaping the administration's influence on the legal landscape.

March 12, 2025

John Roberts Realizes He Made A Huge Mistake

ACB isn't having it.

March 5, 2025

Diddy Lawyer Decides He Gotta Move On

And the new USNWR rankings are dealing with some crazy data.

February 26, 2025

Who Needs Caselaw Anyway?

The new federal deficit is the government's research deficit.

February 19, 2025

Someone Needs To Come Get These Junior Associates

'Nah, you do that' is not a response that keeps lawyers employed.

February 12, 2025

Insurer Spending On Lawyers Rather Than, You Know, Healthcare

And Biglaw begins adjusting to Trump era.

February 5, 2025

400th Episode Spectacular

Getting the band back together.

January 29, 2025

First Thing We Do, Let’s Fire All The Lawyers

Government lawyer purge creates chaos

January 22, 2025

Tom Goldstein Should’ve Stuck With High Stakes Go Fish

You've got to know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold 'em.

January 15, 2025

Back To The Office Blues

Attorneys yearn for the commute.

January 8, 2025

Judges Decide Clarence Thomas Was Just Confused When He Didn’t Report All That Money

Statutes are hard.

December 26, 2024

Ho, Ho, Ho-Cast

A very jolly podcast.

December 18, 2024

Lawyers Who Do Lunch

Bringing new meaning to the court's order.

December 11, 2024

Replacing Judges With AI And Other Stupid Ideas

Elon's got some thoughts on the judicial system.

December 4, 2024

Law School Thought Pregnant Women Not Like Us

Get it? Combining two of the stories into one relevant title?

November 27, 2024

Law Firm Confidentiality Can’t Be Left To The Honor System

'Hey, please don't open this' is not a policy.

November 20, 2024

Judge Throws Temper Tantrum

Also... Matt Gaetz as Attorney General is something we have to contemplate?

November 13, 2024

Biglaw Bonus Season Arrives!

The race is on.

November 6, 2024

Sir Sam Alito Decides No Pesky ‘Constitution’ Governs Him

That Governing Document Can't Stop Me Because I Can't Read!

October 30, 2024

There’s No Studying In Here, This Is The Library!

Also, Tiffany may be number 1 in his heart (she's not), but she's also not number 1 in her class.

October 16, 2024

Learning How To Be A Professional

From young attorneys to the Chief Justice, a lot of lawyers are dropping the ball.

October 9, 2024

Judge Decides To Just Make Up The Rules As She Goes Along

Why not?

October 2, 2024

Eric Adams Must Really Hope Supreme Court Is Serious About Blowing Up Bribery Laws

The majority of the Supreme Court keeps diluting bribery laws and Eric Adams had best hope they aren't done yet.

September 25, 2024

Debbie Does The Dormant Commerce Clause

Why do professors think everyone has to personally experience the facts to understand the law?

September 18, 2024

The Urge To Merge

Is bigger better?

September 11, 2024

What is up with these federal judges?

This week’s episode of Thinking Like A Lawyer is all about the wild decisions made by federal judges. First up is a Trump judge doing Trump judge things — but don’t tell him that....

August 28, 2024

Biglaw’s Back To Office Misadventures

It's not so easy to bring everyone back.

August 21, 2024

Disney Lawyers Learn That Discretion Is The Better Part Of Valor

Just because you can make an argument, doesn't mean you should.

August 7, 2024

Another Bar Exam In The Books

Talking Supreme Court term limits (they're good!), bar exams (they're bad!), and a law professor's conception of free speech (it's ugly!).

July 31, 2024

Overpaid Partners, Nikki Haley Lashes Out, And Judge Might Want To Chill

Catching up on the week that was.

July 24, 2024

Yale Law School Not Sending Its Best

J.D. Vance brought Yale Law back into the spotlight.

July 17, 2024

Judges Behaving Badly

They're not sending their best.