The One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes the largest overhaul to the federal student aid system in decades, limiting loan repayment and debt forgiveness options for borrowers.
The Department of Justice has gutted a program that helps low-income and indigent immigrants receive competent and affordable legal representation, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
"The Klekamp family's extraordinary generosity honors Donald Klekamp's legacy while strengthening our ability to prepare the next generation of talented legal minds," said University of Cincinnati President Neville G. Pinto, in the university's news release.
"Our city advances when our workers can too. By connecting city workers to undergraduate and graduate educations, we're empowering the next generation of civil servants who act ambitiously, think creatively and believe firmly in government's ability to improve the lives of working people."
The legal profession rewards endurance, precision and control. It also quietly normalizes stress, isolation and overextension. For patent practitioners and other IP lawyers, the pressures are uniquely acute: compressed prosecution deadlines, high-stakes litigation exposure, often unrealistic client-driven budget constraints, regulatory whiplash at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and increasingly complex technologies layered with global filing and prosecution strategy.
At least 15 Am Law 100 firms have offered sums of $25,000 to $50,000 to 1L law students accepted into the firms' 2L summer associate programs, incentivizing public interest work.
This may be the last year that law firms can expect billing rate increases to drive financial stability, according to a new survey of more than 800 senior finance and legal professionals in large firms across North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Technology company BigHand's 2026 finance report suggests that firms can no longer rely on traditional measures of profitability, as clients are demanding more efficiency and predictability amid the increased adoption of artificial intelligence across the legal profession, according to Law.com.
Fear is not a flaw or weakness. It is often a signal that something meaningful is trying to surface. For lawyers who want growth that feels aligned and sustainable, learning how to work with fear instead of around it can unlock real change. Our conversation focused on awareness, integrity, and inner stability, all essential skills for professionals who carry responsibility, ambition, and pressure every day.
Student loans aren't to be taken lightly - the hundreds of thousands of dollars prospective lawyers take out for school can set back other milestone life goals like owning a home, having children and buying groceries. For years, relatively low interest loans from the government were a godsend for students that wanted the career opportunities law could unlock but lacked the capital needed to fund their educations.
Leading legal departments are shifting from reactive negotiation to proactive pricing design, setting guardrails before rates are proposed rather than responding after the fact. This approach enables departments to establish parameters and expectations upfront, fundamentally changing the negotiation dynamic and improving outcomes.
You'd be forgiven for wondering if Charlotte is cursed. Despite being America's ninth-largest city, the last time we put a full-time law school in Queen City, we needed to set up a food bank to support the students. Charlotte School of Law, an InfiLaw-run, for-profit law school, collapsed in 2017 amidst probation, bar passage carnage, and federal financial aid chaos.
A new report by the United Educators insurance company shows that universities spent hundreds of millions of dollars on damages in 2025, according to an analysis of publicly reported settlements. Legal cases involved a variety of issues, ranging from deaths on campus to antitrust issues, cybersecurity breaches, discrimination, sexual misconduct and pandemic-era policy fallout. Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital had the largest settlement at $750 million.
The single biggest need I see is for firms to focus on nurturing, valuing and hiring meaningful trial talent. There is a growing generational divide in the profession. When I came of age as a litigator, my mentors were seasoned trial lawyers who had come through the ranks trying dozens of cases a year. The industry has changed and those opportunities have dwindled.
Lindsey Halligan, the former insurance attorney who spent some time "masquerading" - to use a federal judge's words - as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia attempted to ramrod criminal cases against Donald Trump's political enemies and failed spectacularly. Halligan botched the grand jury process, submitted an indictment that the full grand jury never saw, and got two cases dismissed simultaneously.
A long-time client has asked Kinney to help identify a private equity/finance attorney to join as a partner in the firm's lucrative group. No book required. The client is a top Am Law firm.
