Judicial Notice (02.01.26): The $4,000-An-Hour Club

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Have I mentioned how tired I am of the cold? My ancestors hail from the sunny islands of the Philippines, so I’m not genetically equipped to deal with single-digit temperatures. Alas, as a parent of a two-year-old and an eight-year-old who are both in school, I’m sticking it out here in frigid New Jersey. But once I’m an empty nester, I hope to write this newsletter from warmer climes, assuming I still have the privilege and pleasure of writing for you in 15 years—and don’t get replaced by LatBot 5000.

The possibility of being replaced by AI occurred to me when I read about Carolyn Elefant’s project of “building a Paul Clement bot to help lawyers prepare for oral argument” (which was inspired by my recent column, 3 Tips For Appellate Advocates—From Paul Clement). Yes, an AI bot might be able to help lawyers prepare for argument, but don’t expect to see bots actually arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court anytime soon. Even assuming an AI assistant could present a decent argument, judges won’t stand for it (as one pro se litigant learned last March—the hard way).

At least for now, human beings still want fellow human beings to argue appeals, participate in webinars, and serve as dinner speakers. So ChatGPT didn’t deprive me of the opportunities to moderate a great webinar last Wednesday on Supreme Court reform, sponsored by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPAA), or to speak last Thursday at the global offsite of Burford Capital, the world’s leading legal-finance firm (and a longtime sponsor of Original Jurisdiction).

And, I hope, human beings still want fellow human beings writing their newsletters. That’s certainly the view of the good folks over at SCOTUSblog (now part of The Dispatch), who are seeking an editor for their forthcoming business-docket newsletter.