{"podcast":{"title":"On The Merits","slug":"on-the-merits-2557762","podcast_index_feed_id":2557762,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/BL7273559964","website_url":"https://news.bloomberglaw.com/podcasts/on-the-merits","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/fb729090-1169-11ea-afa5-0f57b538bde2/image/352e95e75f9eb334924def3e6665b9ca.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Bloomberg Industry Group","episode_count":318,"summary":"On The Merits takes you behind the scenes of the legal world and the inner workings of law firms. This podcast offers in-depth analysis on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the business of law and the legal industry overall. You'll gain insights into how the latest government actions, policies, and business developments are impacting the industry and hear from leading attorneys, legal scholars, industry experts, and our own team of journalists as they share their perspectives on the forces driving change.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-21T06:17:34.164714+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-the-merits-2557762"},"episode":{"title":"Trump, Mergers and AI: A Tumultuous Year in the World of Big Law","slug":"trump-mergers-and-ai-a-tumultuous-year-in-the-world-of-big-law","published_at":"2025-12-30T16:36:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-the-merits-2557762/trump-mergers-and-ai-a-tumultuous-year-in-the-world-of-big-law","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-the-merits-2557762","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/BL7769986447.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/BL7769986447.mp3","summary":"It's not a very controversial statement to say that Donald Trump's attacks on law firms were the biggest Big Law story in 2025. But, according to the guests on today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, the ramifications of those attacks are still playing out and may spill over into next year and beyond. Bloomberg Law editors Chris Opfer and Alessandra Rafferty said the attacks are still affecting the decisions firms make, or don't make, in hard-to-detect ways—even though the president is no longer actively lobbing punitive executive orders at firms. The two Big Law editors discuss how this is playing out and also whether—and why—we may see more firms merge in 2026. They also get into how the legal industry will be affected if we see an AI bubble burst. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.","meta_description":"It's not a very controversial statement to say that Donald Trump's attacks on law firms were the biggest Big Law story in 2025. But, according to the gues…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1019,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/on-the-merits-2557762/episodes/trump-mergers-and-ai-a-tumultuous-year-in-the-world-of-big-law/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-the-merits-2557762/trump-mergers-and-ai-a-tumultuous-year-in-the-world-of-big-law.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}