California Supreme Court
Despite previous ruling, death penalty attorney tries again with habeas petition
By Emily Green
Death penalty attorneys who were the subject of the state Supreme Court’s irritation for submitting a 500-page habeas petition...
Corporate
Stradling helps private equity firm finance wireless company
By Andrew Mc Intyre
A Los Angeles-based private equity firm is putting a secured line of financing into a debt-ridden publicly traded company in O...
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP are trading office spaces in Palo Alto this weekend...
Education
One year after enrollment cut, UC Hastings adds master's program
By Ameera Buttn
Coming a little more than one year after a 20 percent cut in enrollment, UC Hastings College of the Law has opened a master's ...
California Courts of Appeal
Convicted felon not eligible for new sentence under realignment law, court rules
By Hadley Robinsonn
A state appeals court ruled Thursday that a criminal defendant is not eligible for a lighter sentence because he was sent to p...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
Defense attorney cites case he lost as government lawyer in 9th Circuit argument
By John Roemer
A defense attorney trying to shield his client's financial documents from the Internal Revenue Service was happy to cite a cas...
The authors of a study on the cost of the death penalty in California have updated their initial report in a bid to bolster th...
Government
Chief Justice to require incoming AOC execs pay into pensions
By Paul Jones
Future executive hires for California courts administration will have to contribute to their pensions – including incoming AOC...
Redwood City-based IT security company Qualys Inc. announced Tuesday plans for an initial public offering of 7,575,000 shares ...
Government
Article 3 inapplicable to California real property mortgages
By Ben Armisteadn
As a matter of law, a California mortgage note cannot be a "negotiable instrument" under Article 3 of the California Commercia...
Perspective
Decision impacts move-away requests in custody proceedings
By Michael Leen
Following the ruling in Mark T. v. Jamie Z. family law attorneys can finally make a promise to their clients: custody o...
California Supreme Court
The final word: Civil law developments in the state Supreme Court
By Michael Leen
A convenient way to track the state Supreme Court's most important civil law cases. By Joseph M. Lipner and BJ Ard of Irell &a...
Boston-based Bingham McCutchen LLP is launching a new back-office operations center in Lexington, Ky. in an effort to consolid...
Personal Injury & Torts
Punitive damages permitted in SLO medical malpractice case
By Alexandra Schwappach
A plaintiff alleging medical malpractice will be allowed to seek punitive damages against a San Luis Obispo physician and hosp...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
Law firm's right to shield financial documents up for debate
By John Roemer
A law firm's disputed right to shield a client's financial documents from the Internal Revenue Service is set for oral argumen...
Litigation
San Francisco plaintiff's attorney wins wrongful death verdict
By Saul Sugarman
A San Francisco-based plaintiff's attorney on Wednesday obtained a jury verdict for more than $1 million in damages in a wrong...
Entertainment & Sports
Film financier claims firms pushed his companies into bankruptcy
By Jean Yung
In the microcosm of lawsuits orbiting Hollywood financiers and recent nemeses David Bergstein and David Molner, two law firms ...
How much room does a chicken need to do a pirouette? In a sense, that was the crux of a Riverside County egg farmer's lawsuit ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Neutral uses fellowship to foster mediation overseas
By Connie Lopez
The Weinstein International Fellowship Program provides grants of up to $25,000 to help people from other countries study ADR ...
Developers of the Newhall Ranch, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, have a growing fight on their hands as environmentalists are...
California Courts of Appeal
Sex offender residential requirements unconstitutional, court rules
By Emily Green
A blanket restriction prohibiting sex offenders from living near places where children congregate is unconstitutional, an appe...
Gaston & Gaston APLC inked a 66-month, 9,880 square foot lease on the 24th floor of 1010 2nd Ave. in downtown San Diego.
The family law division at the Los Angeles County Superior Court has taken a lot of budget cuts in the past year, but lawyers ...
Producers need to be careful in defining the scope of territories granted to distributors, as well as knowing what kind of "di...
What happens to the ability to terminate copyright transfers during divorce? By Ivan Hoffman ...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
Court clears officers and stun gun company of liability
By Henry Meier
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court ruling clearing two police officers and a stun gun manufacturer ...
Environmental
Brown signs bill limiting government's ability to collect wildfire damages
By Fiona Smith
Gov. Jerry Brown signed timber industry reform legislation Tuesday that includes a limit on government's ability to collect da...
Product Liability
Plaintiffs' hair-trimmer blaze trial fizzles out with defense verdict
By Ben Adlin
Two parents' effort to hold the maker of a mustache trimmer responsible for their son's death recently fell short after the co...
Leap Motion Inc., a motion-control software and hardware company based in San Francisco, has appointed its first chief legal o...