The Business of Big Law with Jonathan Kanter
Part One of our discussion focuses on Big Law in politics, and Trump using executive memos to dictate how, or even if, American political institutions operate.
Welcome to the podcast Organized Money. You can listen to today’s episode on Apple, on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Since taking office in January, Trump has issued several executive orders targeting major Democratic-aligned law firms, revoking their security clearances and threatening the government contracts of their clients. These are the "big law" firms that not only wield a great deal of money and power in Washington but also play a significant role in the political establishments of both parties.
In this episode, Matt and David deconstruct how big law works with Jonathan Kanter, former head of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department and a former partner at a big law firm. They discuss how these firms make their money, how they became so deeply enmeshed in our politics, and the consequences of Trump's actions, including the chilling effect they are having and the potential for a new way of organizing the Democratic Party. This is part 1 of a 2 part episode with Jonathan Kanter, next week we discuss his work at the Antitrust Division, and the future of anti-monopoly policy.
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Another thing we’re doing this year is providing transcripts and video for every episode. Check your inbox for that soon.
Thank you so much for listening. If there’s a monopoly you’d like us to explore this year, or if you have anything else to tell us, please let us know by leaving a comment or by responding directly to this email.
Looking forward to the transcript - podcasts are not as efficient for many of us, although the content is often of great value.
The part where he talked about the law firms following the businesses and kind of morphing to fit them as business changed and got more concentrated was great and explains a lot.
I think the point of any government is to give regular people a way to tell powerful people "no" (without violence), so it's better to have lawyers who like doing that than the ones who like saying "yes".