The workplace is full of surprises this week — and we've got all of it covered.

Peter Rahbar and Laura Brounstein dig into six stories at the intersection of work, law, and culture, from prediction markets to newsroom meltdowns to what your out-of-office message says about you.

Prediction platform Kalshi just announced it will require users to disclose their employer before placing bets in markets flagged for insider trading risk. A positive step — but will people be honest, and will other platforms follow suit?

Microshifting. The Wall Street Journal is calling it the next big workplace trend, but is it really just flexible hours with a rebrand? Peter and Laura break down when it works, when it doesn't, and why your best leverage for any scheduling accommodation is being someone your boss can trust.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon announced that general counsel Kathy Ruemmler — who was supposed to leave the firm this week following her links to Jeffrey Epstein — is now staying on as an adviser. And it turns out his own chief of staff raised objections. Peter and Laura ask the obvious question: what's the calculus here, and what message does it send?

At CBS News, Bari Weiss has reportedly barricaded herself in a key-card-only sixth-floor suite — physically separated from the staff she's supposed to be leading through one of the most turbulent moments in the network's history. Peter and Laura on why that move is a classic sign of weak leadership, and what to do when your boss starts going squirrely.

Out-of-office message philosophies: how much is too much? Two paragraphs on the importance of rest? Your bunion surgery? Just enough is just enough.

And finally: a federal judge in Massachusetts struck down the Trump administration's $100,000 H-1B visa fee, ruling it was effectively an unauthorized tax that only Congress has the power to impose. A win — but Peter explains why the real damage to America's talent pipeline goes far beyond any court ruling.

Subscribe for weekly conversations where law meets real life.
🎙️ Across the Bar drops every week wherever you get your podcasts.