A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Diana Novak Jones, Mike Scarcella and Sara Merken

Good morning. Here are some of the big stories we’re watching. Jack Queen and Helen Coster take a look at Donald Trump’s legal strategy in lawsuits against media companies. Plus, the number of Black and Hispanic first-year students at elite law schools declined, and our latest Legal Fee Tracker reviews some of the largest legal fee awards to lawyers in 2024 – and what’s on deck for 2025.

On a personal note, we wish our colleague Alison Frankel the best on her retirement. More on that below! 

The Daily Docket is taking a break for the holidays and will be back in your inbox on Jan. 2. Season’s greetings, and thanks for reading!

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REUTERS/Brian Snyder

President-elect Donald Trump is adopting a wide-ranging legal strategy in suing media companies over what he describes as false or misleading coverage about him, filing cases under civil anti-fraud laws in addition to defamation lawsuits, report our colleagues Jack Queen and Helen Coster. 

Some legal experts say the cases appear aimed at punishing outlets for critical coverage, and that the novel legal strategies are an effort to get past steep hurdles in defamation lawsuits, which can be difficult for public figures in the U.S. to win. 

Trump has said the lawsuits, three of which were filed in the past year, are necessary because media companies are “very dishonest” and need to be held accountable. 

Here is a look at five of the cases and where they stand. 

That’s the percentage drop in the number of Black first-year law students who enrolled in the country’s most prestigious law schools this year compared with last year. The top schools enrolled 356 Black students — 31 fewer than in 2023. The number of Hispanic students fell to 498 from 547 last year, or about 9%. Experts said the numbers showed the likely start of a “cascade effect” in which students of color end up at less-selective institutions following affirmative action bans. Karen Sloan digs into the data.

An end and a beginning: Alison Frankel bids farewell in her last On the Case column — and welcomes successor Jenna Greene.

—Judge Trenton Brown in a Georgia appeals court ruling that said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must be disqualified from prosecuting U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and several of his allies for attempting to interfere in the 2020 election in the state. The appeals court in Atlanta, in a 2-1 ruling, found that a romantic relationship between Willis and a former top deputy, Nathan Wade, created "a significant appearance of impropriety." The ruling throws into doubt the future of the case.