Legal Education
Newsom signs bill, killing State Bar paraprofessional program
By Nancy Drabble, Saveena Takhar
The bill was passed as an urgency measure so it goes into effect immediately. This guarantees that the bar cannot precipitousl...
Family, Criminal
The unquantifiable standard for DV restraining order renewals
By Scott J. Nord
A protective order should only be renewed “if, and only if, it finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the protected par...
Government
The Coming SCOTUS Fight Over the Voting Rights Act
By Michael Li, Sonali Seth
Courts have never held that the Fourteenth Amendment bars any consideration of race in map drawing. The only constitutional li...
Technology, Civil Rights
First Amendment not a likely impediment to Social Media Transparency Law
By Krista L. Baughman
Since the law imposes content- and viewpoint-neutral disclosures and does not require or prohibit platforms from engaging in t...
Entertainment & Sports, Civil Rights
The Seventies: A Breakthrough Decade for LGBT Rights
By Jay M. Kohorn
In the 70s, seeds previously sown took sprout and grew ultimately into a uniquely successful civil rights movement, with such ...
Insurance, Civil Litigation
The sudden emergency defense and the La Brea crash
By Michael E. Rubinstein
If the evidence supports a conclusion that this crash was intentional – as prosecutors claim – victims of the crash may find ...
All of the Justices in the majority in both Town of Greece and Kennedy were Christian. As life-long adherents of Americ...
Government, Constitutional Law
Constitutionality of Proposition 30 is questionable
By Matthew C. Alvarez
While most initiatives contain a single subject by focusing on one policy area, some initiatives are so far-reaching that they...
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
Attorney beware, frivolous appeal can lead to sanctions
By Charles M. Kagay
Every potential appeal should be evaluated before filing, for both substance and motive, by an attorney knowledgeable about th...
Labor/Employment, Constitutional Law
Ripple effect of Viking River making waves in employment disputes
By Antwoin Wall
The pending Ninth Circuit panel hearing, when coupled with the current state of arbitration agreements following Viking River ...
Legal Education, Law Practice, Appellate Practice
Beyond the paper chase
By Michael L. Stern
Contemporary law students seek a legal education that fulfills an expanding range of client needs, promotes access to justice ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
ADR and this years’ most impactful decisions
By Paul Dubow
Had the Court adopted Orrick’s position, international arbitration in the United States would have been problematical, given t...
Entertainment & Sports
Stream it Tonight! Paths of Glory (1957)
By Michael Asimow, Paul Bergman
More than six decades after it was made, Paths of Glory reflects contemporary concerns about command influence in military jus...
The results of a bad IRS audit binds the taxpayer for state tax purposes. However, in some situations the IRS accepts a return...
Just as the SEC has been wrangling securities rough riders, the CFTC has been actively rounding up commodities violators.
Tax advisors are not supposed to play audit lottery or to base their substantive tax advice on statistics that show that most ...
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
Expert depositions in preparation for trial
By Dan L. Stanford
Assuming you determine you cannot exclude an expert’s testimony, your next effort can be to attempt to weaken the foundation o...
Labor/Employment
Starbucks questions integrity of its union elections
By Eli M. Kantor
When union reps said pro-union workers hadn’t received ballots in the mail, NLRB employees prepared duplicate ballots while ar...
With any case of first impression, where California statutes are silent on a subject and there is no other positive law, the E...
Myron Moskovitz's September 6 piece Coercing Religion - Part One reignited a flame in me that I expressed back in a 2010 Daily...
Judges and Judiciary
Superior Court summer extern program: an evaluation
By Richard L. Fruin
The extern experience is intended to introduce law students to the expectations of judges and, more broadly, to the practice o...
Torts/Personal Injury
Plaintiffs lawyers need to keep pace with mass torts defense moves
By Doug Rochen
A tactic widely perceived as mostly fraudulent by the profession is being used by defense counsel in torts claims. If successf...
Real Estate/Development, Government
Closing a habitability exclusion loophole
By Stephen L. Raucher
The 24th & Hoffman court was unpersuaded by either Saarman or Conway, declining to follow those non-binding cases.
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
The Portia Project®: Fifty interviews and 10 lessons
By M.C. Sungaila
Nearly every guest has commented on the need to get out of the office and join the legal, local, or larger community as early ...
Native Americans, Family
The Indian Child Welfare Act is what’s best for kids
By Kathryn Eidmann, Tara C. Ford
Placement with extended family and other caregivers identified by the Indian child’s Tribe maintains a network of familiar rel...
Constitutional Law
A misguided quest for the original understanding
By Erwin Chemerinsky
The Supreme Court’s embracing of originalism is an approach to constitutional law that threatens basic aspects of freedom and ...
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
Street gang scienter through inference difficult to prove
By David J. Cohen
In effect, the majority’s holding contravened the fundamental principle “that mere gang membership and affiliation with gang m...
Contracts
California court excuses performance of COVID-impacted contract
By Dariush Adli
The court’s decision is consistent with California precedent, which long ago merged the common law doctrines of impracticabili...
Health Care & Hospital Law, Government
Gender dysphoria could be an ADA-protected disability
By Kamran M. Shahabi
Employers, having knowledge of an employee’s diagnosed condition, should likely recognize that transgenderism, if associated w...
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
Attorneys as educators
By Paul A. Bacigalupo, Barbara A. Kronlund
As a nation we are experiencing a truly unique moment, and one where we will need to rely on the rule of law to guide us throu...