Zoning, Planning and Use
County's Limits on Water Use Were Not a Taking of Property
By David Minkown
Focus Column - In California's first comprehensive land-use taking case since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Li...
Judges and Judiciary
Judicial Activism Gets Reproof in Recent Gay-Marriage Rulings
By David Minkown
Forum Column - Defenders of the institution of traditional marriage were encouraged by three state-court decisions in the past...
In Chambers - The final tally in the Imperial County election, too close to call five weeks ago, gives the victory to Superior...
LOS ANGELES - San Francisco U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan on Thursday announced the creation of a joint task force with the FBI to ...
Labor/Employment
Supreme Court Expands Protections Against Employer Retaliation
By David Minkown
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent love affair with employment retaliation cases continued on June 22 with a monumental decision ...
LOS ANGELES - San Diego District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis and Howard B. Miller, a former Los Angeles school board president,...
Large Firms
Pillsbury Resolves Century City Problem, Gives Goodwin Office
By Drew Combsn
LOS ANGELES - Goodwin Procter and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman are modern American law firms but the intrigue and maneuveri...
Los Angeles is the loser in an epic water fight, with state appellate justices issuing a tentative opinion pressuring the city...
Zoning, Planning and Use
Will 'Hamdan' Join 'Kelo' on Congress' Dusty To-Do List?
By Hurley
WASHINGTON - Almost exactly a year ago, after the Supreme Court's decision to endorse the right of governments to seize proper...
Appellate Practice
State Urges Appellate Court to Uphold Law Restricting Credit Agencies
By Rebecca Beyer
LOS ANGELES - Should consumers be able to decide which credit bureaus can release their credit reports? ...
Law Practice
New Web Site Serves as Social Portal for Those in Legal Field
By William Arthur Haynes
SAN FRANCISCO - Web-based business owner Chris Rempel was canvassing the Internet in search of marketing avenues for a technol...
SAN FRANCISCO - A court-appointed investigator who monitored excessive use of force, inadequate discipline policies and a perv...
Swanky Pebble Beach, the famous golf course and resort, can't sue the owner of an English bed and breakfast who gave his seasi...
Litigation
Courts Allow Anti-SLAPP Protection for Petition and Speech Rights
By David Minkown
Focus Column - In the first six months of this year, the courts issued 18 published opinions arising from the California anti-...
Intellectual Property
After 'Grokster,' YouTube Teeters Over the Infringement Danger Zone
By David Minkown
Before his Watergate fame, Attorney General John Mitchell reassured civil rights critics of President Nixon's perceived rhetor...
Law Practice
From Enron to Vioxx, Savvy Visuals Help Bring Complex Cases to Life
By Rebecca Beyer
LOS ANGELES - When the Enron verdict came down in May, Juliet Huck's phone started ringing off the hook.
LOS ANGELES - Businesses can't buy movies, edit out the potentially offensive parts and resell them, a federal court has ruled.
Sometimes when warring parties reach settlements, it's difficult to tell whether any practical effects will result.
Military Law
Army Officer Worried About War Crimes Faces Tough Legal Battle
By David Minkown
Forum Column - Ehern Watada is a soldier who doesn't want to fight in Iraq.
LOS ANGELES - Defense lawyers for Merck & Co. challenged a marketing expert's testimony that the company's sales campaign ...
Environmental
Environmental Groups Threaten Suit Over Lead Ammunition
By Dennis Pfaffn
SAN FRANCISCO - Lead: the bullet that keeps on killing. That's the thrust of objections being raised by a coalition of enviro...
SAN FRANCISCO - Singer and activist Joan Baez will perform Monday evening at an anniversary dinner and fundraiser for a lawyer...
Forum Column - The death of two people in a Florida detention center last month was an avoidable tragedy. The result of govern...
Family
Father Sues County Over Its Failure to Reunite Him With His Daughter
By Erin Park
LOS ANGELES - A decorated former Marine and his biological daughter were wrongfully separated for a decade due to lies and neg...
Forum Column - For a judiciary seeking to limit the scope of private party constitutional litigation, the most straightforward...
LOS ANGELES - When Michael Schill was contemplating whether to take the deanship at the UCLA School of Law more than two years...
LOS ANGELES-For the second time in six months, a federal judge has imposed sanctions on Los Angeles city officials for violati...
SAN FRANCISCO - Strip-search class actions targeting jailers in California and around the nation gained momentum Tuesday as Sa...
Letter to the Editor - The long-awaited May 31 Supreme Court hearing on Proposition 64 and pending cases has come and gone. Ba...