Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Civil Rights
The right to counsel in California needs a legislative fix
By Thomas F. Coleman
The system looks good on paper. However, in actual practice it is terrible. The rights of seniors and other adults with disabi...
Family, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
You’ve lost your client. Now what?
By Lucy Vartanian
Determining the appropriate course of action when a client goes missing or passes away is a perplexing gray area of California...
Insurance, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Enhance the effectiveness of your mediation by exploring potential insurance coverage issues pre-mediation
By Cassandra S. Franklin
n tax matters, procedure is important. The IRS has many rules about notices, deadlines, refunds, audits and disputes. And no m...
Legal Education, Law Practice
Fostering strong oral communication skills for law student externs
By Dena R. Bauman
Oral communication, including formal presentations and informal conversations, is a critical professional competency for law s...
Civil Litigation, Insurance
Are Cumis counsel disputes with insurers subject to anti-SLAPP?
By Stephen L. Raucher
A recent appellate rulings considers the question.
Understanding the myriad sources of confusion
Labor/Employment
California again expands lactation accommodation requirements
By Michael J. Nader, Jill L. Schubert
Earlier this month, Gov. Newsom signed a bill that amends the California Labor Code to expand lactation space requirements for...
Environmental & Energy
C’mon America: get the lead out and complete the job
By Gerald George
Reducing lead exposure levels, particularly in older urban communities, can produce demonstrable and significant social impact...
Government, Constitutional Law
Judicial opinion responding to Congress-executive clash is essential
By John H. Minan
Civil Litigation, Labor/Employment, California Supreme Court, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
The debate over Dynamex’s retroactivity heads to the California Supreme Court
By Felix Shafir, Jacob M. McIntosh
The law does not favor retroactivity; but how the court will rule is unclear.
Constitutional Law, California Courts of Appeal
Ethics at the California Coastal Commission
By Michael M. Berger
A recent case involving the commission was not only wrong — it was offensive.
Regarding the Oct. 29 article, “Gascon aims to make LA DA race about over incarceration” — a couple of things I know with cert...
The best aspect of my work day is the morning commute. That is because I have become a run commuter. I travel on foot the 4.5 ...
Civil Litigation, Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Criminal
The whole truth
By Michael J. Raphael
Even our friends who lack a J.D. know, a witness typically swears that she will tell not just the truth, and not just nothing ...
Civil Litigation, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
9th Circuit arbitrator disclosure ruling: In search of a solution to a problem it’s unable to solve
By Marc D. Alexander
A recent ruling is an important case creating a new requirement that arbitrators disclose their ownership interest in ADR orga...
Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports
Why a flexible fair use inquiry best promotes copyright’s purpose
By Erik Stallman
“Oh the Places You’ll Boldly Go!,” a literary “mash-up” that places characters from the “Stark Trek” universe in settings base...
Civil Litigation, Insurance, California Supreme Court
Pitzer suggests it might be time to reexamine the notice-prejudice rule as applied to claims-made-and-reported policies
By Christopher Kim
In Slater the Court of Appeal declared that no authority supports the proposition that public policy mandates that the notice-...
Tax, Corporate
In business divorce litigation, don’t forget to think about taxes
By Dashiell C. Shapiro
The way the settlement or judgment is structured can have significant consequences when tax season rolls around. So it pays to...
Constitutional Law, California Supreme Court
California’s constitution needs some changes
By Stephen M. Duvernay, Brandon V. Stracener
Several provisions in California’s constitution are dead letters, having been quashed by judicial decisions or otherwise rende...
Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court
Kibler’s long shadow to be lengthened further as state Supreme Court addresses application of anti-SLAPP in peer review cases
By Carlo Coppo, David M. Balfour
The Supreme Court is expected to answer open questions about the application of the anti-SLAPP statute, Civil Procedure Code S...
Judges and Judiciary
We count what we care about: Conservatees in California
By Thomas F. Coleman
Bankers know to the penny how much money they are managing in their financial institution. Elections are based on the actual n...
U.S. Supreme Court, Tax, Government, Constitutional Law
En banc circuit review or Supreme Court review likely in Trump tax dispute
By John H. Minan
Given Trump’s willingness to block any attempt to access his financial records and business dealings, the only thing certain i...
Government, Administrative/Regulatory
Businesses: What to know about draft CCPA regulations
By Lindsey Tonsager, Jadzia Pierce
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the act, and published draft regulat...
Civil Litigation, Entertainment & Sports, Antitrust & Trade Reg.
Antitrust battle continues between WGA, talent agencies
By Michelle Lowery, Steven P. Vaughn
A Hollywood union’s recent amendments to its union rules sparked federal antitrust lawsuits by three of Hollywood’s top talent...
Labor/Employment
Are golf professionals now ‘employees’ under Assembly Bill 5?
By Colin Walshok
With the looming implementation of AB 5 many people in various trades and professions are asking, “Are we now employees?” One ...
Law Practice, Constitutional Law
The United States of America: plural or singular?
By Frank H. Wu
The United States of America, it has been pointed out, was once a plural. Through grammar, you could discern that regionalism ...
Civil Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Full (arbitrator) disclosure: 9th Circuit got it right
By Michael H. Leb
The panel held that before an arbitrator is officially engaged to perform an arbitration, to ensure that the parties’ acceptan...
Government, Administrative/Regulatory
New law roundup: California cannabis laws continue to grow and evolve
By Joshua R. Mandell, Claudia Fu
This month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed numerous bills into law further refining California’s already comprehensive cannabis regu...
The IRS has issued two new pieces of guidance. These rules are IRS interpretations of existing law, which means the IRS could ...