Schadenfreude, Part 2 Time's Matt Cooper, still going through legal hell trying to protect his sources, has dumped lawyer Floyd Abrams. Not that Matt cares, but I couldn't be more delighted. Abrams is—you heard it here first—a pompous, overrated hired gun, more interested in getting his name in the papers than being a careful and good lawyer. (Go ahead, Floyd, sue me.)

I have some firsthand experience here; Abrams once delivered an unhelpful opinion on a legal matter I was involved with, despite a blatant (and unacknowledged by him) conflict of interest.

Since then, though, I've paid some attention to what Abrams really does—primarily, coast on his reputation from his long-ago glory days as a guy who truly believed in freedom of the press. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Matt Cooper had discovered the same thing.  ¶ 9:00 AM