Judges and Judiciary
Passion for outdoors led circuit judge to write about Justice William O. Douglas' environmental advocacy
By Sunidhi Sridhar
Judge M. Margaret McKeown spent five years in research institutions across the country to write “Citizen Justice: The Environm...
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy of Diocese of Santa Rosa appears part of national trend
By Malcolm Maclachlan
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 218. The law opened up a three-year window for people to file cases between 2020 and 2022...
Environmental & Energy, Admiralty/Maritime, Administrative/Regulatory
US didn’t do enough to protect whales from fishing, judge rules
By Jonathan Lo
U.S. District Judge James Donato, in his order, found the sablefish pot fishery, with its 2-mile long strings of pots to harve...
Technology, State Bar & Bar Associations
GPT-4 AI model passes Uniform Bar Exam, researchers say
By Devon Belcher
An artificial intelligence model created by OpenAI exceeded the 68% student average for multiple choice performance in the Uni...
Law Practice, Contracts, Appellate Practice
Expert in government contracts joins BakerHostetler in LA
By Douglas Saunders Sr.
“Todd brings a unique perspective as it relates to how the government prosecutes debarment cases,” firm business practice chai...
Insurance
Panel revives insurance company claim against Miller Barondess
By Antoine Abou-Diwan
The unpublished ruling said that the lower court erred in concluding that Section 533 of the California Insurance Code did not...
Civil Litigation
Broadband says Orrick advised it, then appeared for opponent
By Wisdom Howell
Wednesday's proceeding in San Francisco Superior Court regarding the plaintiff's motion to compel discovery was the final cale...
Government, Criminal
Attorney hospitalized, mistrial sought in LA corruption trial
By Sunidhi Sridhar
U.S. District Judge John F. Walter paused the proceedings against former deputy mayor Raymond Chan last week after his lawyer,...
LA juvenile judge willing to listen to creative solutions
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
Johnny Depp's lawyer never anticipated being the 'famous one'
By Ricardo Pineda
Camille Vasquez, a partner at Brown Rudnick LLP shared how she copes with fame and recounted the legal strategy that led to th...
Labor/Employment
Proposition 22 ruling is not Dynamex 2.0, attorneys say
By Malcolm Maclachlan
"The issue this time around is whether Proposition 22, which is legislation adopted by the initiative process, violates the Ca...
Government, Civil Rights
County seeks judgment in COVID case against church
By Wisdom Howell
Counsel for Calvary Chapel told Superior Court Judge Evette D. Pennypacker that the county violated the First and 14th amendme...
Government, Banking
Fed board ousts Silicon Valley Bank executive
By Antoine Abou-Diwan
Silicon Valley Bank's CEO Greg Becker's role with the board that is supposed to be monitoring SVB might raise some eyebrows, b...
Ruled schools could not require ‘under God’ in Pledge
Technology, Civil Litigation
School sues social media companies over childrens' mental health
By Jonathan Lo
"Social media companies have ignited a serious mental health crisis through their deployment of artificial intelligence algori...
Education Law
Jewish disabled children denied equal access to special ed, suit says
By Sunidhi Sridhar
“To be eligible as a placement for a student with a disability, the CDE [California Department of Education] must ‘certify’ an...
Los Angeles Judge Stephen Goorvitch wants lawyers to care as much as he does, and get it right.
Judges and Judiciary
Plaintiffs pared, expertise argued in Juul trial preparation
By Jonathan Lo
Attorneys for Altria, the largest investor in Juul Labs, met with the plaintiffs’ lawyers Friday to argue over motions to dism...
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
50-member West Coast patent team moves to DLA
By Douglas Saunders Sr.
“For the past few years, we have doubled the size of our team and our revenue, so we decided it was time to reassess and rebal...
Government, Civil Rights
Calvary Chapel’s federal suit over COVID orders paused for state case
By Wisdom Howell
County Counsel James R. Williams asked the court to abide by the Younger abstention doctrine which he said articulates, “‘a st...
Criminal, Banking
Shareholder accuses Silicon Valley Bank of fraud in lawsuit
By Malcolm Maclachlan
Four days after a multibillion run on Silicon Valley Bank, a shareholder filed a proposed class action in federal court in San...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Criminal
Law enforcement probing dealings between State Bar and Girardi
By Devon Belcher
“The main reason why we weren’t able to release the reports until Friday of last week was because we were cooperating with a l...
Labor/Employment
Appeal panel: Gig workers can be classified as contractors
By Malcolm Maclachlan
Monday’s decision written by Justice Tracie L. Brown will allow these companies to classify drivers and other gig workers as i...
Labor/Employment, Ediscovery, Class Action
Disney pay suit with tardy discovery gets more time
By Antoine Abou-Diwan
In the last conference in October, Judge Elihu M. Berle chided the attorneys for not having settled the basics and wondered if...
Data Privacy, Criminal
Online retailer's recording of chat feature doesn't violate privacy act, U.S. judge rules
By Douglas Saunders Sr.
Plaintiff Jose Licea alleged Cinmar violated California Penal Code Section 631 when it paid a third party to “eavesdrop” on an...
Yuba County Judge Melanie Bendorf emphasizes individual circumstances in each case.
Consumer Law
LG knowingly sold faulty appliances, complaints allege
By Sunidhi Sridhar
Earlier this year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that it was conducting a study into gas emissions fro...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Criminal
Bar employees didn't understand conflict of interest, says report
By Devon Belcher
The bar released two redacted reports detailing the agency’s handling of the Thomas V. Girardi matters, including a former Sta...
Technology, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Twitter collaboration didn't make content moderation a state action
By Skyler Romero
While the panel ruled against the plaintiff, attorney Rogan M. J. O’Handley, he might still have a claim under the state Const...
Torts/Personal Injury, Government
Gibson Dunn wins $375K for protester shot by rubber bullet
By Douglas Saunders Sr.
Jurors determined that Deon Jones’ 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures had been violated by office...