While Some in Big Law Question the Value of Legal Blogs, What They Fear Most Isn’t the Media—It’s the Voice of a Legal Blogger

Fueled by a stream of inside-the-conference-room exclusives, Above the Law delivers a daily public spanking to what it calls “The Yellow-Bellied Nine.” Those are the elite firms who pledged a collective $1 billion in free legal work to Mr. Trump after he signed executive orders threatening to bar their lawyers from federal buildings, suspend their security clearances and cancel their government contracts.

In the words of Above the Law, the firms “folded like a damp cocktail napkin” to the president’s demands for “pro bono payola.”

Partners running billion-dollar firms have long eyed its morning newsletter like an elephant does a mouse. One partner at a top-tier firm told The New York Times that lawyers there have a rule: “Don’t do anything that could wind up in Above the Law.” The partner requested anonymity for fear of violating the rule.

“One of the comments I most appreciated,” said David Lat, the lawyer who founded Above the Law in 2006, “was from an administrative assistant who told me, ‘The partners are nicer to us because they don’t want to show up on the site as ‘The Screamer.’”