Category: News Feeds

Ed.
Note:
Welcome
to
our
daily
feature

Trivia
Question
of
the
Day!

Last
week,
Virginia
and
South
Dakota
announced
they
were
on
board
with
the
NextGen
bar
exam
and
will
administer
the
exam
in
2028
and
2027,
respectively.
Of
the
56
jurisdictions
that
use
a
bar
exam
in
licensing,
how
many
are
now
committed
to
moving
to
the
NextGen
exam?

Hint:
NextGen
Bar
exam
is
the
National
Conference
of
Bar
Examiners’
first
major
redesign
of
the
bar
exam
in
25
years.

See
the
answer
on
the
next
page.

Justice
Ketanji
Brown
Jackson,

who
once
out-acted
Matt
Damon,
took
a
turn
on
Broadway
recently,
with
a

one-time
cameo
in

&Juliet.

And
conservatives
are
very,
very
mad
about
it.

Look,
there’s
an
argument
to
be
had
that
the
justices
should
not
stray
into
becoming
fixtures
of
popular
culture
—
indeed
there’s
a
plausible
claim
that
Justice
Ginsburg’s
refusal
to
retire
was
fueled
in
part
by
support
she
cultivated
as
pop
icon
“Notorious
RBG.”
And
there’s
a
solid
counterargument
that
figures
holding
the
sort
of
power
Supreme
Court
justices
wield
over
policy
should
be
more
accessible
than
a
cloistered
aristocracy
nixing
constitutional
rights
from
on
high.
Either
way,
a
one-off
appearance
in
a
show
is
hardly
moving
any
needles.

But
Carrie
Severino
of
the
Concord
Fund
—
the
entity
formerly
known
as
the
Judicial
Crisis
Network
—
is
not
pleased
AT
ALL.

It’s
a
real
mystery
why
Broadway
might
not
be
as
chummy
with
people
dedicated
to
making
life
more
miserable
for
women
and
gay
people.

But
also…
are
the
conservative
justices
not
interested
in
being
popular
icons?
Sam
Alito
went
out
and

got
people
to
knight
him.
Neil
Gorsuch
spent
his
Federalist
Society
speech

pining
for
a
social
media
squirrel.
And
conservatives
generally
love

tying
themselves
to
more
liberal
colleagues
to
bask
in
reflected
popularity.
It
seems
like
they
are
desperately
thirsty
for
popularity
—
especially
in
the
form
of
rock
star
status
at
Federalist
Society
events.

Just
because
they
aren’t
courting
the
same
audiences
doesn’t
mean
they
aren’t
just
as
obsessed
with
being
popular.
And
this
rant
from
a
former
Thomas
clerk
carries
(pun)
a
whole
lot
of
“I’m
not
mad,
please
don’t
put
in
the
newspaper
that
I
got
mad”
energy
on
behalf
of
justices
who
really
want
to
be
in
the
next
revival
of
A
Man
for
All
Seasons
starring
Kevin
Sorbo
or
whatever.

“Queer
Broadway
musicals.”
There
we
go!
It’s
refreshing
when
the
bigots
say
the
quiet
part
out
loud,
isn’t
it?

Also
what’s
this
“barely
leave
their
homes”
noise?

Thomas
and

Alito
don’t
seem
to
have
any
problems
leaving
the
house
if
someone
else
is
paying!
Thomas
is
even
willing
to
take
a
loan
—
possibly
a
fully
forgiven
one
—
for
a

mobile
home
from
an
interested
executive
if
the
circumstances
present
themselves.
He
drives
that
thing
all
over
the
country!

Hemmingway’s
article
notes
that
people
occasionally
protest
conservative
judges.
In
particular,
Mollie
points
to
protests
at
the
Capitol
over
Brett
Kavanaugh’s
confirmation
while
conspicuously
avoiding
any
allusion
to
the
whole
“attempted
rape”
part
of
those
hearings.
That
seems
like
it
would
be
a
significant
caveat!

Not
that
it’s
slowed
him
down.
Kavanaugh
and
Gorsuch
took
(arguably)
less
problematic

luxury
trips
on
ASS
Law’s
dime.

And
according
to
Times
reporting
about
Gorsuch’s
junket
(summarized
by
Business
Insider)
the
justices
have
a
lovely
time
on
these
trips.

• 
  Gorsuch
  was
  hosted
  in
  an
  “aristocratic”
  old-town
  apartment
  in
  Padua
  at
  the
  school’s
  expense
  in
  2018.
• 
  He
  was
  flown
  there
  at
  a
  cost
  of
  $3,771.
• 
  Gorsuch
  was
  asked
  to
  help
  pick
  which
  Italian
  city
  would
  host
  his
  teaching
  trip.
• 
  He
  only
  had
  to
  teach
  in
  the
  mornings.
• 
  Gorsuch’s
  accommodation
  in
  Iceland
  in
  2021
  cost
  $5,250.

These
teaching
trips
aren’t
solely
the
province
of
conservative
justices
—
Justice
Kagan
joined
Gorsuch
on
his
Iceland
trip
—
but
it
does
go
a
long
way
toward
dispelling
the
abject
nonsense
claim
that
the
Court’s
right
wing
“can
barely
leave
their
homes.”

But
the
key
to
running
a
judicial
crisis
network
is
pretending
that
there
is,
in
fact,
a
judicial
“crisis”
all
the
time.
And
it’s
all
about
how
everyone
doesn’t
like
them…
nature’s
perfect
snowflakes.

---

Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or

Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a

Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.

What’s
the
best
way
to
stick
out
during
bonus
season?
Offering
better
bonuses
than
your
competitors!

Pallas
Partners
is
doing
just
that.
The
UK-based
firm
founded
by
former
Boies
Schiller
managing
partner
Natasha
Harrison
with
offices
in
London
and
New
York
has
joined
the
2024
bonus
frenzy.

The
Base
and
Special
bonuses
look
how
you’d
expect
them
to,
mirroring
the
market:

But
the
real
magic
is
in
their
step-up
thresholds,
offering
bigger
bonuses
for
higher
billing
lawyers:

Nothing
like
seeing
hard
work
rewarded
in
cash!

We
like
hearing
about
bonuses
almost
as
much
as
you
enjoy
spending
them.
As
soon
as
your
firm’s
memo
comes
out,
please email
it
to
us (subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Bonus”)
or
text
us
(646-820-8477).
Please
include
the
memo
if
available.
You
can
take
a
photo
of
the
memo
and
send
it
via
text
or
email
if
you
don’t
want
to
forward
the
original
PDF
or
Word
file.

And
if
you’d
like
to
sign
up
for
ATL’s
Salary
&
Bonus
Alerts,
please
scroll
down
and
enter
your
email
address
in
the
box
below
this
post.
If
you
previously
signed
up
for
the
bonus
alerts,
you
don’t
need
to
do
anything.
You’ll
receive
an
email
notification
within
minutes
of
each
bonus
announcement
that
we
publish.

---

Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
 He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected] and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.

---

---

Yesterday
Justice
Juan
Merchan

tossed
Trump’s
motion
to
dismiss
his
New
York
criminal
convictions
on
grounds
of
presidential
immunity.
Perhaps
inadvertently,
the
Supreme
Court’s
conservatives
left
the
narrowest
of
paths
for
a
prosecution
to
survive,
and
the
trial
judge
threaded
it.

The

motion
to
dismiss
was
packed
with
the
usual
hyperbole
and
ad
hominem
attacks
from
attorneys
Todd
Blanche
and
Emil
Bove,
who
will
soon
be
running
the
Justice
Department.

“No
President
of
the
United
States
has
ever
been
treated
as
unfairly
and
unlawfully
as
District
Attorney
Bragg
has
acted
towards
President
Trump
in
connection
with
the
biased
investigation,
extraordinarily
delayed
charging
decision,
and
baseless
prosecution
that
give
rise
to
this
motion,”
they
bloviated.

At
bottom,
they
objected
to
testimony
by
Trump’s
White
House
aides,
Hope
Hicks
and
Madeleine
Westerhout,
along
with
the
introduction
of
a
federally
mandatory
financial
disclosure
and
several
tweets
issued
while
Trump
was
in
office.
These
violate
the
Supreme
Court’s
ruling
in

Trump
v.
US
that
evidence
of
official
acts
must
be
excluded
to
ensure
that
the
president
acts
boldly
and
without
fear
that
he’ll
go
to
jail
for
doing
crimes,
they
insist.
They
largely
failed
to
lodge
these
objections
at
trial,
however,
suggesting
that
they
did
not
anticipate
the
Supreme
Court
being
crazy
enough
to
buy
what
they
were
selling.
(Oh
ye
of
little
faith!)

But
Blanche
and
Bove
aren’t
just
nasty.
They’re
creative,
too!
So
they
had
several
interesting
theories
why
their
untimely
objections
should
carry
the
day.
Maybe Trump
v.
US
required
a
special
hearing
on
immunity
claims,
and
the
lack
of
one
constitutes
a
mode
of
proceedings
error
that
does
not
require
preservation. 
Maybe
they
refrained
from
objecting
too
much
“to
avoid
antagonizing
the
court
or
testing
its
patience,”
and
so
Justice
Merchan
should
be
a
pal
and
treat
those
objections
as
if
they’d
been
timely
lodged.
Maybe
presidential
immunity
is
a
superpower
that

Trumps
trumps
all
others.

Justice
Merchan
was
not
persuaded,
and
he
noted
that
“the

Trump
Court”
(cough)
took
pain
to
affirm
that
it
wasn’t
murdering
all
prosecutions
of
former
presidents
in
their
cribs,
but
rather
setting
out
a
rubric
to
separate
official
from
unofficial
conduct:

In
attempting
to
assuage
the
concerns
expressed
by
the
dissent,
Chief
Justice
Roberts
succinctly
clarified
the
majority’s
holding.
“As
for
the
dissent,
they
strike
a
tone
of
chilling
doom
that
is
wholly
disproportionate
to
what
the
Court
actually
does
today
–
conclude
that
immunity
extends
to
official
discussions
between
the
President
and
his
Attorney
General,
and
then
remand
to
the
lower
courts
to
determine
‘in
the
first
instance
whether
and
to
what
extent
Trump’s
remaining
alleged
conduct
is
entitled
to
immunity;”
the
Trump
Court
expressly
indicating
that
its
holding
is
no
broader
than
that.

And
so
Justice
Merchan
took
the
Court
at
its
word,
finding
that
“the
evidence
related
to
the
preserved
claims
relate
entirely
to
unofficial
conduct
and
thus,
receive
no
immunity
protections.”
Rejecting
the
mode
of
proceedings
argument,
Justice
Merchan
noted
that
US
District
Judge
Alvin
Hellerstein
conducted
a
fact-based
review
pursuant
to
Trump’s
first
federal
removal
petition
and

concluded
that
covering
up
a
hush
money
payment
to
a
porn
star
by
dummying
up
fraudulent
invoices
to
your
lawyer
was

not
official
conduct.
And
so,
Justice
Merchan
reasoned,
“It
is
therefore
logical
and
reasonable
to
conclude
that
if
the
act
of
falsifying
records
to
cover
up
the
payments
so
that
the
public
would
not
be
made
aware
is
decidedly
an
unofficial
act,
so
too
should
the
communications
to
further
that
same
cover-up
be
unofficial.”

The
court
added
that,
even
if
the
evidence
adduced
at
trial were
official
in
nature,
their
introduction
“poses
no
danger
of
intrusion
on
the
authority
and
function
of
the
Executive
Branch.”

And
finally,
if
all
the
above
was wrong,
then
it
was
harmless
error
since
there
was
so
damn
much
evidence
against
Trump
that
it
wouldn’t
have
made
any
difference.

As
of
this
writing,
there
is
still
a
pending

Motion
to
Dismiss
Based
on
Various
Previously
Rejected
Theories
and
Also
I
WON
THE
ELECTION.
There’s
also
some

rumbling
from
the
defense
about
juror
misconduct.
It’s
not
clear
what
that
involves,
although
the
judge
characterized
it
as
a
letter
from
the
defense
which
“consists
entirely
of
unsworn
allegations.”
That
should
appear
on
the
docket
in
the
next
few
days,
if
only
in
redacted
form.

This
case
is
hanging
on
by
a
thread.
But

it
is
hanging
on.

---

Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.

Biglaw
firms
like
Milbank
may
be
the
source
of
the
generous

year-end
and

special
bonus
scales
that
have
swept
the
legal
industry,
but
it’s
the
boutique
firms
where
associates
will
really
have
the
opportunity
to
pad
their
wallets.

Time
and
time
again,
boutique
firms
have
truly
spread
the
wealth
among
associates
this
bonus
season,
by
not
just
meeting
the
Milbank
scale,
but
oftentimes
completely
blowing
it
away.
The
latest
boutique
firm
to
hand
out
unbelievable
bonuses
to
associates
is

Bursor
&
Fisher.

Sources
at
the
firm
have
told
us
that

Scott
A.
Bursor,
the
firm’s
founder,
announced
bonuses
last
week
during
B&F’s
year-end
reviews,
which
were
held
at
the
Fountainebleu
Hotel
in
Miami
Beach.
All
lawyers
and
staff
from
the
firm’s
offices
in
New
York
and
California
were
flown
to
Miami
and
put
up
at
the
hotel
for
four
nights.

Bonuses
at
the
firm
are
not
lockstep,
and
are
instead
based
on
objective
criteria
like
business
origination
and
revenue
—
and
at
every
level,
they
were
well
above
the
Milbank
scale
(which
ranges
from
$15,000
to
$115,000,
plus
special
bonuses
ranging
from
$6,000
to
$25,000,
in
case
you’ve
forgotten).

So,
how
big
of
bonuses
are
we
talking?

We’ve
been
told
that
lawyers
at
the
firm
were
very
handsomely
rewarded
for
their
work,
with
bonuses
ranging
from
$50,000
for
first-year
associates
to
$100,000
or
more
for
second-year
associates.
Every
associate
in
the
class
of
2020
or
earlier
at
the
firm
made
at
least
$400,000
in
bonus
money,
with
the
top
bonus
going
to
a
fourth-year
associate
who
took
home
more
than
$725,000.
Yes,
you
read
that
correctly:
A
lucky
associate
at
this
firm
received
a
bonus
of
nearly
three
quarters
of
a
million
dollars.

A
very
big
congratulations
to
everyone
at
Bursor
&
Fisher.
Associates
at
the
firm
must
be
absolutely
thrilled
with
their
gigantic
bonuses!

Remember
everyone,
we
depend
on
your
tips
to
stay
on
top
of
compensation
updates,
so
when
your
firm
announces
or
matches,
please
text
us
(646-820-8477)
or email
us (subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Bonus/Matches”).
Please
include
the
memo
if
available.
You
can
take
a
photo
of
the
memo
and
send
it
via
text
or
email
if
you
don’t
want
to
forward
the
original
PDF
or
Word
file.

And
if
you’d
like
to
sign
up
for
ATL’s
Bonus
Alerts
(which
is
the
alert
list
we
also
use
for
salary
announcements),
please
scroll
down
and
enter
your
email
address
in
the
box
below
this
post.
If
you
previously
signed
up
for
the
bonus
alerts,
you
don’t
need
to
do
anything.
You’ll
receive
an
email
notification
within
minutes
of
each
bonus
announcement
that
we
publish.
Thanks
for
your
help!

---

Staci
Zaretsky is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law,
where
she’s
worked
since
2011.
She’d
love
to
hear
from
you,
so
please
feel
free
to

email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
comments,
or
critiques.
You
can
follow
her
on Bluesky, X/Twitter,
and Threads, or
connect
with
her
on LinkedIn.

---

---

Historically,
Biglaw
firm
Hogan
Lovells
matches
the
prevailing
market
rate
when
it
comes
to
associate
compensation/bonuses.
And
that
makes
sense
—
the
firm
pulled
in
$2,682,000,000
in
gross
revenue
making
it
the
eleventh
richest
firm
in
the
country.
So,
they
seem
to
have
the
cash
to
share
with
the
hardworking
associates
that
make
the
firm
tick.
But
not
this
year.

Today
the
firm
announced
bonuses
and
no
one
there
is
happy.
That’s
because
the
memo
announcing
year-end
bonuses
for
associates
curiously
(especially
given
HoLove’s
spot
at
the
top
of
the
rankings)
leaves
off
the
special
bonuses
making
their
way
through
Biglaw.

And
associates
are
PISSED.
This
is
just
a
sampling
of
the
tipsters
Above
the
Law
heard
from
in
the
immediate
aftermath
of
the
announcement.

Hogan
Lovells.
Didn’t
match.
Associates
are
furious,
coming
off
of
a
record
year.
No
warning,
no
explanation.

Match
but
NO
special
bonuses
whatsoever.
Associates
are
not
happy

Hogan
Lovells
is
not
matching
associate
bonuses,
despite
branding
themselves
as
a
market
compensation
firm.
Associates
are
unsurprisingly
livid
and
dismayed.
Current
reason
(pretense…)
is
that
because
the
firm
offers
BD
bonuses,
“super”
bonuses
based
on
exceeding
billable
hour
requirements
and
other
discretionary
bonuses
(which
usually
max
out
at
$5k),
that
there’s
no
need
to
match
the
special
bonus

No
special
bonuses
at
Hogan
Lovells
and
associates
are
PISSED.
Just
a
few
days
ago
leadership
was
telling
groups
that
this
was
a
record
year
for
profits
(as
was
last
year).
All
of
Hogan’s
peers
matched
and
there’s
no
discernible
reason
for
stiffing
associates
who
meet
their
(already
high)
billable
targets.
Hogan
is
desperate
to
have
a
better
reputation
but
being
below
market
is
not
the
way
to
do
it.
(Submitted
anonymously).

Yeah,
not
a
great
day
to
be
a
HoLover.

Remember
everyone,
we
depend
on
your
tips
to
stay
on
top
of
important
bonus
updates,
so
when
your
firm
matches,
please
text
us
(646-820-8477)
or email
us (subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Matches”).
Please
include
the
memo
if
available.
You
can
take
a
photo
of
the
memo
and
send
it
via
text
or
email
if
you
don’t
want
to
forward
the
original
PDF
or
Word
file.

And
if
you’d
like
to
sign
up
for
ATL’s
Bonus
Alerts
(which
is
the
alert
list
we
also
use
for
salary
announcements),
please
scroll
down
and
enter
your
email
address
in
the
box
below
this
post.
If
you
previously
signed
up
for
the
bonus
alerts,
you
don’t
need
to
do
anything.
You’ll
receive
an
email
notification
within
minutes
of
each
bonus
announcement
that
we
publish.
Thanks
for
all
of
your
help!

---

Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email

her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter

@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon

@[email protected].

---

---

Another
elite
boutique
law
firm
is
proving
that
big
bonuses
aren’t
just
for
the
big
guns
in
Biglaw!
Texas-based
Yetter
Coleman,
a
litigation
boutique
founded
in
1997,
announced
both
year-end
and
special
bonuses
today
—
and
associates
are
thrilled.

Yetter,
one
of
the top
litigation
firms
by
law
school
pedigree,
is
matching
the
scale
set
by
Biglaw
market
leader
Milbank.
The
scale
is
as
follows.

Plus,
the
firm
announced
“outstanding”
performances
would
be
rewarded
with
“even
higher”
bonus
amounts.
The
cash
hits
bank
accounts
this
Friday,
December
20th.
You
can
read
the
full
memo
below.

Remember
everyone,
we
depend
on
your
tips
to
stay
on
top
of
important
bonus
updates,
so
when
your
firm
matches,
please
text
us
(646-820-8477)
or email
us (subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Matches”).
Please
include
the
memo
if
available.
You
can
take
a
photo
of
the
memo
and
send
it
via
text
or
email
if
you
don’t
want
to
forward
the
original
PDF
or
Word
file.

And
if
you’d
like
to
sign
up
for
ATL’s
Bonus
Alerts
(which
is
the
alert
list
we
also
use
for
salary
announcements),
please
scroll
down
and
enter
your
email
address
in
the
box
below
this
post.
If
you
previously
signed
up
for
the
bonus
alerts,
you
don’t
need
to
do
anything.
You’ll
receive
an
email
notification
within
minutes
of
each
bonus
announcement
that
we
publish.
Thanks
for
all
of
your
help!

---

Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email

her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter

@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon

@[email protected].

---

---

*
Judge
denies
Trump
attempt
to
toss
hush
money
convictions
on
grounds
of
“sure
he
wasn’t
in
office
but
paying
off
porn
stars
is
a
*kind*
of
official
presidential”
immunity.
But
the
court
reserved
the
right
to
toss
the
case
later
based
on
feels.
[CNN]

*
TikTok
swipes
over
to
the
Supreme
Court
to
stop
looming
ban.
[National
Law
Journal]

*
Adeel
Mangi
gives
up
on
Third
Circuit
nomination
noting
that
confirmation
had
become
“a
channel
for
the
raising
of
money
based
on
performative
McCarthyism
before
video
cameras.”
But
that’s
a
half-truth!
It
can
also
been
a
rubberstamping
commission
mill
for
unqualified
Federalist
Society
flunkies
and
we’ll
see
that
side
soon
enough.
[New
Jersey
Law
Journal]

*
Despite
court
ruling,
law
school
class
diversity
remained
more
or
less
steady
this
year.
[Bloomberg
Law
News]

*
Supreme
Court
finally
finds
a
political
corruption
case
they
will
allow
to
proceed.
[Reuters]

*
Supreme
Court
also
moves
toward
online
lottery
for
public
seats.
[ABA
Journal]

*
Where
will
Tom
Girardi
serve
out
his
sentence?
[Law360]

You
cannot
have
innovation
without
adoption.
That
was
a
theme
we
heard
repeatedly
when
we
attended
the
Knowledge
Management
&
Innovation
for
Legal
conference
in
New
York
City
in
October.
Our
guest
today,


Paul
Henry,
would
take
that
a
step
further
and
say
you
do
not
really
have
adoption
without
engagement. 

Henry
is
the
founder
and
CEO
of


NGAGE
Intelligence,
a
platform
that
provides
law
firms
with
highly
granular
and
comprehensive
behavioral
analytics
to
help
them
understand
whether,
how
and
by
whom
their
communication,
collaboration
and
AI
tools
are
being
used.  

NGAGE
was
founded
on
the
notion
of
employee
engagement
and
how
analytics
can
be
used
to
measure
and
improve
it.
At
the
conference,
LawNext
host
Bob
Ambrogi
sat
down
with
Henry
to
learn
more
about
Ngage
and
how
the
analytics
it
provides
can
drive
adoption,
engagement
and
governance. 

A
note
that
this
was
recorded
live
at
the
conference,
as
the
morning
keynote
speech
was
being
piped
throughout
the
conference
area,
so
I
apologize
for
the
background
noise.. 

Thank
You
To
Our
Sponsors

This
episode
of
LawNext
is
generously
made
possible
by
our
sponsors.
We
appreciate
their
support
and
hope
you
will
check
them
out.

If
you
enjoy
listening
to
LawNext,
please
leave
us
a
review
wherever
you
listen
to
podcasts.

This
month,
online
healthcare
booking
platform

Zocdoc
released
an
end-of-the-year

report
detailing
various
trends
in
patient
behavior.
The
report
—
based
on
data
from
the
millions
of
visitors
Zocdoc
sees
each
month
—
noted
things
like
an
increased
demand
for
sleep
medicine
specialists,
a
spike
in
mental
health
appointments
during
the
summer,
and
a
low
rate
of
telehealth
visits.

The
report
also
included
some
predictions
from
Zocdoc
CEO
Oliver
Kharraz
about
how
patient
behavior
and
the
healthcare
industry
at
large
might
change
next
year.
Below
are
three
of
his
most
notable
forecasts.

Patients
will
increasingly
opt
for
cash-pay
healthcare

Most
Americans
with
health
coverage
have
been
conditioned
to
seek
care
from
in-network
providers
—
but
these
patients
often
get
blindsided
by
unexpected
out-of-pocket
costs,
Kharraz
pointed
out.

“Given
the
persistent
increase
in
both
healthcare
costs
and
high-deductible
plans,
it’s
no
surprise
that
we’re
seeing
more
patients
seeking
guaranteed,
upfront,
transparent
pricing,”
he
said.

Kharraz
thinks
this
trend
will
advance
even
further
for
things
like
prescriptions
and
longevity-focused
diagnostics,
such
as
bundled
services
like
labs
and
MRIs.

He
also
noted
that
healthcare
is
becoming
more
and
more
consumer-driven
—
which
means
niche
cash-pay
services
could
become
more
popular.

“For
example,
we
saw
in
our
booking
data
that
when
patients
chose
to
go
out-of-network
this
year,
it
was
largely
for
mental
health,
cosmetic
treatments
and
dental
care,”
Kharraz
stated.

Amazon
will
restructure
its
healthcare
assets

Over
the
past
few
years,
leaders
in
the
healthcare
industry
have
seen
tech
and
retail
giants
like
Walmart,
Apple
and
Google
struggle
to
break
into
their
uniquely
complex
sector.
Amazon
is
no
different
—
and
Kharraz
believes
there
is
a
good
chance
the
company
will
significantly
rearrange
its
healthcare
offerings
in
2025.

As
a
tech
behemoth,
it’s
rational
to
try
and
use
your
core
competency
to
capitalize
on
the
nearly
$5
trillion
healthcare
spend
in
the
U.S.,
he
noted.
For
instance,
Amazon
has
tried
to
leverage
its
retail
strengths,
Apple
has
tried
to
break
through
with
its
hardware
capabilities,
and
Google
has
entered
the
sector
with
a
data-first
strategy,
Kharraz
explained.

“When
you
have
a
hammer,
everything
looks
like
a
nail.
But
healthcare
is
hard
to
disrupt
from
the
inside-out,
and
this
approach
has
been
unsuccessful,”
he
said.

Amazon’s
healthcare
efforts
haven’t
been
very
profitable,
and
it
is
“untenable”
for
the
company
to
keep
incurring
hundreds
of
millions
in
losses,
Kharraz
stated.

“I
suspect
2025
will
be
the
year
that
Amazon
determines
that
they
don’t
have
the
recipe
to
make
in-person
healthcare
work,
and
managing
healthcare
providers
is
a
very
different
business
than
managing
logistics,”
he
remarked.

He
thinks
Amazon
will
likely
refocus
on
its
pharmacy
benefits,
which
are
easier
to
scale
than
care
delivery
offerings.

GLP-1
adoption
will
increase

More
Americans
will
start
using
GLP-1
medications
in
2025,
the
report
predicted.
GLP-1
supply
issues
are
decreasing,
so
prices
are
coming
down
—
meaning
many
Americans
will
gain
access
to
medications
that
they
couldn’t
afford
in
the
past.

This
will
result
in
several
downstream
effects,
Kharraz
said.
For
example,
he
thinks
payers
will
likely
start
to
treat
these
drugs
differently.

“There
will
likely
be
an
evolution
in
their
coverage,
and
we’re
already
starting
to
see
payers,
including
​Medicare
and
Medicaid,
receive
pressure
to
expand
access
to
weight
loss
drugs,”
Kharraz
pointed
out.

He
also
noted
that
compounders
may
be
phased
out.
Compounders
helped
fill
supply
gaps
when
GLP-1
production
was
slow
—
but
now
that
these
drugs
are
more
available,
patients
will
choose
less
expensive,
FDA-approved
options
instead
of
compounded
drugs,
Kharraz
explained.

The
increased
adoption
of
GLP-1s
will
also
cause
some
indirect
effects,
he
added.

“There
may
be
reduced
demand
for
traditional
weight
loss
medications,
bariatric
surgeries
and
possibly
insulin
therapy
in
some
patients.
GLP-1s
may
reduce
obesity-related
comorbidities
like
type
2
diabetes,
cardiovascular
disease
and
certain
cancers.
We
are
still
in
the
early
innings
of
seeing
their
impact
on
Americans’
health
and
care
delivery
system,”
Kharraz
said.

Photo:
Getty
Images, AndreyPopov