Foley & Lardner associates are set to see a salary increase in February as the firm matches the Milbank pay scale, the latest sign of how compensation moves at one major law firm can ripple across Biglaw.

The timing gives Foley associates a new-year pay change to anticipate, even as another development is making it harder to assess the financial performance of some of the country’s largest firms. Simpson Thacher has become the third firm in a growing pullback from financial disclosure, arguing that financial metrics provide only a limited view of a law firm.

That decision has implications for the Am Law 100, the closely watched ranking of major U.S. law firms. With fewer firms providing financial data, more of the figures used to assess the industry may have to rely on estimates rather than direct disclosure. The contrast is striking: associate pay remains a highly visible marker of competition among firms, while some of the financial measures used to compare those firms are becoming less transparent.

Elsewhere in the legal world, Judge Richard Posner, a prominent scholarly jurist, has died at 87. His life and career are being revisited for their influence on legal thought and judging, as well as for the distinctive personality he brought to the profession.

A separate court dispute has placed a Justice Department lawyer under scrutiny. A judge, describing being “flabbergasted” by what was characterized as a “pattern of dissembling, obfuscation, and frankly outright misrepresentation,” barred the lawyer from the case. The judge also warned that another such misstatement could result in a default judgment against the government.

The episode underscores the consequences lawyers and their clients can face when a court concludes it has been misled. In this instance, the warning extends beyond the individual lawyer to the government’s position in the case.

Meanwhile, the next generation of potential lawyers is taking a measured view of artificial intelligence. College students use AI tools frequently, but their use does not necessarily translate into confidence in claims about the technology’s transformative potential.

That skepticism offers a counterpoint to the enthusiasm surrounding AI across the legal profession. For students who may soon enter law schools and legal workplaces, familiarity with the tools appears to coexist with doubts about the scale of their promised impact.