Above the Law (website)

Last updated

Above the Law
Type of site
Trade news website
Available inEnglish
OwnerBreaking Media
Founder(s) David Lat
URL abovethelaw.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
CommercialYes
Launched2006;19 years ago (2006)

Above the Law (ATL) is a news website about law, law schools, and the legal profession. [1] Established in 2006, the site is owned and published by Breaking Media. [2]

Contents

Influence

The site has been sourced by GQ , The American Lawyer , Forbes , Washingtonian , and Gawker , among others. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] In 2008, it was listed as one of the ABA Journal 's "100 Best Web Sites by Lawyers, for Lawyers". [8] In 2013, it began publishing an annual ranking of law schools. [9]

The site's popularity has been attributed to being freely posted, unlike most other legal trade publications. Above the Law receives all of its funding through investments and advertising on its website. [10]

Staff

David Lat founded the website that became Above the Law after previously authoring the legal blog, Underneath Their Robes. [10] [11] In 2019, Lat was succeeded as editor by Elie Mystal, who produces regular content along with Staci Zaretsky, Joe Patrice, and Kathryn Rubino, joined by a number of columnists from across the legal landscape. [2] The staff work in the top floor of the Cable Building in New York City. [10]

Breaking Media's lead investors include Justin B. Smith and S. Carter Burden III, son of Carter Burden.

Controversies

In 2011, Above the Law was sued for $50 million for an erroneous story about a rape to which one of its articles linked. The suit was ultimately settled out of court. [12] [13]

In 2016, Above the Law received criticism from many publications when Mystal wrote an article [14] suggesting that jury nullification of crimes by black people against white people could be used by jurors as a form of protest. [15] [16] [17]

References

  1. ↑ Sullivan, Casey (April 12, 2016). "Above the Law Scraps Comments Section, Points to Media Shift". Bloomberg Law. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "About". Above the Law. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Yes, This Libertarian Senate Candidate Really Did Sacrifice a Goat and Drink Its Blood". GQ . October 6, 2015. Archived from the original on May 8, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  4. ↑ Baxter, Brian (June 19, 2016). "More Firms Jump on Cravath Pay Scale, as S&C Beats Top End". The American Lawyer . Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  5. ↑ Smith, Harrison (May 22, 2015). "Meet the Musicians Who Are Driving Skadden, Arps Bonkers". Washingtonian . Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  6. ↑ Cush, Andy (February 22, 2016). "Georgetown Campus Conservatives 'Traumatized' Over Scalia Reply-All Email Apocalypse". Gawker . Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  7. ↑ Adams, Susan (October 6, 2015). "The Best Law Schools For Career Prospects 2016". Forbes . Archived from the original on March 21, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  8. ↑ "The 2008 ABA Journal Blawg 100". ABA Journal . Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  9. ↑ Kaufman, Alexander C. (May 1, 2013). "AboveTheLaw.com Rolls Out Its Own Law School Ranking". AdWeek . Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 Williamson, Elizabeth (May 18, 2025). "The Website Where Lawyers Mock 'Yellow-Bellied' Firms Bowing to Trump". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 11, 2025.
  11. ↑ "David Lat". Above the Law. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  12. ↑ Sehgal, Ujala (May 11, 2011). "Legal Blog 'Above The Law' Sued for $50 Million Over Rape Story". AdWeek . Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  13. ↑ Randles, Jonathan (August 2, 2016). "Gawker Allows Atty's Defamation Appeal To Proceed" . Law360 . Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  14. ↑ Mystal, Elie (December 7, 2016). "Here's How Black People Could Use Jury Nullification To Break The Justice System". Above the Law (editorial). Archived from the original on December 12, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  15. ↑ Richardson, Bradford (December 8, 2016). "Lawyer: Black jurors should refuse to convict black people accused of murdering white people". The Washington Times . Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  16. ↑ Bedard, Paul (December 8, 2016). "Black lawyer: Free anyone charged with murdering whites". Washington Examiner. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Black Lives Matter's Elie Mystal Makes Wild Demands Against Whites". Blue Lives Matter. December 9, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2016.


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