There's a market for betting on SCOTUS cases

Before you slam your laptop shut and fire up the grill, it’s time to schedule a firm-wide compensation audit. While you’re looking at dates, you might want to think about whether your plan for winning in the court of public opinion lines up with your litigation calendar. We also look at prediction markets that let people bet on court outcomes, and link to a podcast on how the Declaration's promise has held up over two and a half centuries.

But first, is Justice Alito retiring?

Don’t trust that USB stick.
Russian-based hackers have extorted over $100 million from U.S. law firms. 

Red, White, and Boom.
Looking for a 50-state survey of fireworks law? The American Pyrotechnics Association has you covered.  

A Roundup of Opinions on the Roundup Decision.
People in Iowa react to the Supreme Court ruling to block people from suing the weed and grass killer for cancer lawsuits.

Road Trip: National Treasure.
American colonists in 1776 didn’t see the Declaration of Independence that’s on display at the National Archives (which also has a special new exhibit about its creation and impact). Instead, copies of what are now known as Dunlap broadsides were distributed far and wide. Today, 26 of those exist, and many of them are on display this summer.

“You look like the Fourth of July! Makes me want a hot dog real bad!”
If you love Elle Woods as much as Paulette, you’re going to want to check out Amazon’s new mini-series. The show is set in the Gemini vegetarian’s formative years. 

Above the Law has its annual salary scorecard up and running, and there’s a recent Reddit thread about in-house pay, but numbers only tell part of the compensation story.

Camille Stell makes the case that a formal compensation audit (looking beyond salaries to bonuses, origination credit, benefits and partnership draws) is something your firm should do regularly. Stell identifies eight problems that audits consistently uncover (like origination credit that hasn't been revisited since a partner originated the client a decade ago) and provides tips for how to address them.

Why this Matters: Compensation is one of the most powerful management tools a firm has, affecting morale, motivation, retention and culture, yet most firms treat it as a set-it-and-forget-it system. An audit tells you what’s actually going on. (Attorney At Work)

Why mess around with FantasySCOTUS when prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket allow you to place money on the outcomes of SCOTUS cases? The basic premise is simple: traders purchase contracts that pay out based on how a case resolves, with the current price fluctuating based on the predicted probability of a particular outcome. (It functions a lot like sports betting; however, the platforms argue their contracts are legally distinct from gambling because they allow a party to hedge risk, not just wager on an outcome.) 

Whether legal prediction markets actually produce better forecasts than the legal commentariat is up for debate, but that hasn’t stopped traders from piling into this market.

Why this Matters: Monthly trading volume on these platforms has grown from less than $5 billion in September 2025 to about $24 billion in April 2026. There are currently no disclosure rules, recusal requirements or ethics policies that explicitly address prediction market trading by attorneys or court personnel. (The University of Chicago Law Review)

Our country may be 250 years old, but it is still a nation under construction. In this podcast from Yale, three historians—Joanne Freeman on the founding era, David Blight on slavery and the Civil War and Beverly Gage on the twentieth century—cover the ongoing arguments about what this country is, was, and is meant to be.

Why this Matters: Semiquincentennial fever has produced a lot of shallow patriotic content this year. This isn't that. These lectures feel less like a civics lesson and more like a long-overdue conversation that fills you in on the background details. (America at 250: The Podcast)

When you are handling a case that you expect to make headlines, putting together a media plan may be just as important as your litigation strategy.  

This piece from the Kessler PR Group outlines the different opportunities plaintiffs and defendants have to shape media coverage as a case moves toward trial. It then offers tips for getting better press coverage of the trial itself (things like setting up advance briefings, and commenting on background but not off-the-record).

Why this Matters: Winning in court can mean little if you lose in the court of public opinion. Crafting a media plan that complements your litigation strategy can help you win both. (Kessler PR Group)

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Raise the Bar is written and curated by Emily Kelchen edited by Bianca Prieto.