Competing guidelines have emerged at the state and federal levels as regulatory and enforcement bodies attempt to address cons...
On Feb. 12, President Barack Obama issued two important documents to secure our digital infrastructure: the Executive Order Im...
Perspective
California in the minority on accessing employee social media
By Ben Armisteadn
California joined Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Michigan and Illinois by enacting a bill which creates guidelines and restri...
While data is pouring into organizational networks, nearly one in four respondents to a recent survey indicated that the vast ...
Government
Cybersecurity presents steep learning curve for US enforcers
By Ben Armisteadn
Over the past 20 years, we have witnessed the development of encryption and myriad other security technologies. By Rodney R. P...
Recent reports underscore a growing pattern of patient data breaches, and lawyers across California say they're seeing a corre...
Judges and Judiciary
The Judicial Council weighs in on telecommuting, reapportioning money among the trial courts
By Emily Green
Tuesday's Judicial Council meeting reflected the ongoing struggle among court leaders to determine how the branch will govern ...
UCI School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky has been appointed to hold the school's recently endowed chair in First Amendment law.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
9th Circuit brands anti-whaling group a 'pirate,' orders it to stop harassing Japanese vessels
By Fiona Smith
A federal appellate court has stepped into a war over whaling being waged in the distant Southern Ocean off Antarctica, callin...
Susan C. Alker will jump from Reed Smith LLP to the Los Angeles office of Winston & Strawn LLP on Wednesday, according to ...
Newly expanded federal privacy regulations that restrict how kids younger than 13 can be tracked and marketed online will be e...
State Bar & Bar Associations
State Bar seeks OK to shift to bare-bones style of writing discipline accusations
By Don Debenedictisn
Discipline prosecutors want to abandon detailed complaints in favor of stripped-down "notice pleadings," but the defense bar i...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
9th Circuit dissenters oppose Facebook settlement with no money for class members
By John Roemer
Angry Facebook users who sued over the site's now-defunct Beacon feature got a raw deal in a $9.5 million class action settlem...
Legislators, including the head of the California Senate, have introduced a flood of bills to reform the state's landmark envi...
Perspective
Remainder beneficiaries granted standing in revocable trust dispute
By Ben Armisteadn
With this ruling, the question is settled that remainder beneficiaries do have standing to seek redress of harm to their inter...
In this environment it is surprising that so few lawyers, whether operating as sole proprietors or in small to medium-size fir...
Veteran litigator Terry C. Leuin , a partner at Nossaman LLP , died on Feb. 18 after battling cancer. He was 66.
A federal judge issued sanctions ruled the L.A. Sheriff's Department failed to preserve certain videotapes of deputies removin...
The California Supreme Court has appointed Justice Ignazio J. Ruvolo, presiding justice of the Court of Appeal, 1st District C...
Government
Prison officials buried critical report, plaintiffs claim
By Hamed Aleazizn
State officials "buried" a report by a consultant who was critical of the prison system's suicide prevention program, accordin...
Judges and Judiciary
ABA report recommends disclosure of social media 'friends'
By Hadley Robinson
If an attorney or witness in a case is "friends" with the judge on a social media website like Facebook, the judge should cons...
A roundup of recent mergers and acquisitions and financing activity and the lawyers involved.
Environmental
Oyster farm to remain open pending appeal, 9th Circuit rules
By John Roemer
A 9th Circuit motions panel granted an emergency request to keep Marin County's Drakes Bay Oyster Co. open for business while ...
Criminal
Engineer gets three months in prison for trade secrets theft
By Hadley Robinson
A federal judge on Monday sentenced a Silicon Valley project engineer convicted of stealing trade secrets from his former empl...
Labor/Employment
Sonoma County retirement benefits dispute heads back to district court
By Laura Hautalan
A ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals gives the retirees' association a second chance to prove the benefits in questi...
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP added two lateral partners this week in its San Francisco and Los Angeles offices.
Lenders now may be liable for unreasonably failing to reveiw a borrower's request for a loan modification. By Alfred M. Clark
Trusts & Estates
Beware the pitfalls of estate planning during a divorce
By Ben Armisteadn
If a matter has not been finalized with a judgment and a spouse dies, then the parties are treated as if they are still marrie...
The University of La Verne College of Law announced its new dean Monday, more than a year after its former head resigned amid ...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
Auto purchaser plaintiffs cannot keep would-be class action in state court, 9th Circuit rules
By John Roemer
Jockeying over class action venue issues got the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' attention Monday as auto purchaser plainti...