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Discipline


Watchdog Agency Hears Judge's Case

Jan. 20, 2007
By Amy Yarbroughn

SAN FRANCISCO - As his attorneys describe him, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert B. Freedman is an excellent judge an...


Labor/Employment


Grocers and Union Battle in Court

Jan. 20, 2007
By Martin Bergn

LOS ANGELES - As Southern California supermarkets and unions gird for a contentious collective bargaining process in February,...


Contracts


A Crack in Arbitration Contracts

Jan. 20, 2007
By Eric Berkowitzn

FORUM COLUMN - By David Gurnick and Tal Grinblat - The 9th Circuit gave consumers a lift with an en banc decision that lets a ...


Judges and Judiciary


LOS ANGELES - The percentage of African-Americans and Latinos on the Los Angeles County bench far exceeds their numbers in the...


Government


Theories Swirl Around U.S. Attorney Departures

Jan. 20, 2007
By Amelia Hansen

In Washington, California's senior senator confronted the U.S. attorney general face to face to complain Thursday that the Bus...


Criminal


SACRAMENTO - The chair of the state Senate's Public Safety Committee called Thursday for the creation of an independent commis...


Healthcare/Hospital Law


Vioxx Jury Says Merck Knew of Risks

Jan. 20, 2007
By Rebecca Beyern

LOS ANGELES - The jury in California's second Vioxx liability trial found Thursday that Merck & Co. knew from available sc...


Constitutional Law


Howling at Censorship

Jan. 19, 2007
By Eric Berkowitzn

FORUM COLUMN - By Elaine Elinson - Fifty years after Allen Ginsberg's book "Howl" was seized by police, the risk of censorship...


Government


Attorneys Won't Drop Search Suits

Jan. 19, 2007
By Lawrence Hurleyn

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department says some of the many lawsuits challenging the Bush administration's warrantless national-...


Appellate Practice


Uncovering Unpublished Opinions

Jan. 19, 2007
By Eric Berkowitzn

FOCUS COLUMN - By Laura M. Wilson - A new federal rule lets lawyers cite unpublished opinions in briefs. Good thing, right? M...


Criminal


Until the day he died in prison last year at 48, Mark Collin Sodersten maintained his innocence in the 1984 murder of a Tulare...


Discipline


SAN FRANCISCO - Public Advocates President Jamienne S. Studley was appointed to the San Francisco Ethics Commission Wednesday ...


The California Supreme Court is considering throwing out a convicted child molester's 230-year prison sentence. ...


Education


Legal Education Gives Ethics Training Short Shrift

Jan. 19, 2007
By Eric Berkowitzn

FORUM COLUMN - By Anne Colby and William Sullivan - Breaking news: Law schools relegate ethics to the back burner, creating a ...


Environmental


SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco judge's recent decision could boost the fortunes of some cities trying to find deep pockets to...


Criminal


WASHINGTON - Noncitizens who aid and abet a crime of theft can be deported for it, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, rev...


Criminal


State Plans to Arrest Former Black Panthers

Jan. 19, 2007
By Dennis Opatrny

SAN FRANCISCO - After three years of secret grand-jury investigations, the California Department of Justice plans soon to arre...


Large Firms


Saying Goodbye to New Orleans

Jan. 19, 2007
By Haynes

Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home, and the exodus from New Orleans drained his client pool. So plaintiffs' attorney Gary Ro...


Insites


LITIGATION

Jan. 18, 2007
By Aubrey Poolen

LOS ANGELES - An environmental law group has sued the Southern California Gas Co., alleging that cancer-causing chemicals leak...


Law Practice


Kevin Ryan of San Francisco and Carol Lam of San Diego on Tuesday became the latest U.S. attorneys to resign, prompting Sen. D...


Firm Watch


SAN FRANCISCO - In a move that would place a Heller Ehrman office on European soil for the first time, the San Francisco-based...


Natural Resources


PG&E Loses Nuclear-Waste Storage Appeal

Jan. 18, 2007
By Brent Kendall

WASHINGTON - In a setback for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to review a 9th U.S. C...


Banking


WASHINGTON - Wrestling with a closely watched business case, the U.S. Supreme Court expressed concern Tuesday about a plaintif...


Trusts & Estates


Court Says Estranged Son Can Inherit

Jan. 18, 2007
By Laura Ernden

An Ohio man is entitled to inherit from a biological father he never met face-to-face, a state appellate court ruled Tuesday i...


Government


Defending the Despised

Jan. 18, 2007
By Eric Berkowitzn

FORUM COLUMN - By Tony West - A lawyer for John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban," knows something about defending prisoner...


Environmental


Emissions Case Idled Until EPA Ruling

Jan. 18, 2007
By Dennis Pfaffn

SAN FRANCISCO - A judge Tuesday put on hold, possibly for months, an automobile-industry lawsuit challenging California's land...


Zoning, Planning and Use


Trial Will Start on Plans for Venice Complex

Jan. 18, 2007
By Max Follmer

A long-running fight over plans to redevelop a 52-building apartment complex in Venice enters a new phase today when a Malibu ...


Intellectual Property


Supreme Confusion

Jan. 18, 2007
By Eric Berkowitzn

FOCUS COLUMN - By Rod S. Berman and Brian W. Kasell - The Supreme Court just spoke on a thorny procedural issue in patent liti...


Public Interest


Bar Foundation Doles Out $267,000 in Grants

Jan. 18, 2007
By Amy Yarbroughn

SAN FRANCISCO - About 30 organizations that provide legal services and education to California's diverse population will get a...


Four San Francisco police officers who shot and killed a teenager riding in a fugitive's car in 1998 cannot be disciplined bec...