Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court
Court creates bad precedent by injecting tort principles into an inverse condemnation analysis
By Mark S. Roth
By injecting tort principles into an inverse condemnation analysis, a recent California Supreme Court decision presents a subs...
Law Practice, Civil Litigation, Appellate Practice
Appellate Adventures, Chapter 13, "How Do I Present the Outline of Argument?"
By Myron Moskovitz
Starring ace trial lawyer Flash Feinberg and his trusty sidekick Professor Plato
I am a teacher of argument and a student of history. As I contemplate the viciousness of contemporary rhetoric, I think back t...
Letters, Criminal
Let’s see what the People think of the felony murder rule
By Marc Debbaudt
Someone is willing to commit a crime. They habor the intent to break the law. They are willing to breach our social contract f...
For years, courts have criticized California’s felony murder rule; now that the Legislature has responded, with the attorney g...
Reflections on my week as a volunteer attorney at the Dilley Immigration Detention Center
Civil Litigation, Law Practice
Properly drafting settlement agreements with payments
By Steven H. Kruis
A recent appellate ruling is yet another stark reminder of the severe consequences when a settlement requiring payments over t...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
California bar proposes revolutionary changes to the legal market
By Theodore G. Brown III
After adopting a complete re-vamp of its Rules of Professional Conduct last year, a California State Bar Task Force has propos...
Letters, State Bar & Bar Associations
If California wants to lead, the bar should embrace reciprocity
By Andrew J. Guilford
Here’s an irony of the California bar: Passing our nation’s most difficult bar exam provides the least valuable license to pra...
States are increasingly recognizing that lives can be saved by Extreme Risk Protection laws, which enable people who exhibit ...
Legal Education, Law Practice
How California companies can make the most of their externs
By Sande Buhai, Carolyn Young Larmore
Suggestions for enhancing an externship’s educational value to the student as well as maximizing the value of the student’s co...
Real Estate/Development, Government
Accessory dwelling units: Statewide affordable housing solution?
By Jacob Madden, Elizabeth Martyn
Recent state legislation has reduced local control over ADUs in a variety of ways with more to come. State law now prohibits l...
Criminal
Kellen Winslow Jr sexual assault trial: A defense attorney’s take
By Arash Hashemi
When the rape and sexual misconduct trial of former NFL star Kellen Winslow Jr. ended on June 11 in San Diego, court observers...
Labor/Employment, California Supreme Court, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
High court unlikely to stray far from Brinker
By Gary M. McLaughlin, Jonathan P. Slowik
The 9th Circuit recently certified two questions regarding meal and rest breaks to the California Supreme Court that have perp...
Constitutional Law
When online speech platforms remove speakers, due process is needed
By Saira A. Hussain
In our country’s fraught search to do something to stop mass violence, and hold someone or something accountable for conduct t...
August 16, 2019, was to be the kick-off of a 3-day rock festival bearing the name: Woodstock 50. Would it have the same meanin...
Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports
In role reversal, celebrities must now defend against paparazzi lawsuits
By I. Neel Chatterjee
Seeing a quick way to make a bunch of bucks, the paparazzi are suing celebrities to squeeze every penny out of these impromptu...
Judges and Judiciary, California Supreme Court, Appellate Practice
Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye by the numbers
By Kirk C. Jenkins
Today, we’re continuing our series of data-driven profiles of the justices of the California Supreme Court. Our third subject,...
Constitutional Law
Red flag laws aren’t a substitute for more meaningful regulation
By Erwin Chemerinsky
After the two most recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, President Donald Trump suggested that he might support federal...
Government, Environmental & Energy
With weaker CAFE standards, the US withdraws from the climate fight
By Gerald George
Then in 2018, the Trump administration froze the corporate average fuel economy standards, neither reducing neither fuel consu...
Labor/Employment
‘Minority Report,’ but for your performance review
By J. Drei Munar, Katherine P. Sandberg
How artificial intelligence and deep learning will impact employment litigation
Law can appear like magic to those who are not lawyers, and no doubt there are those jokers who would liken the disciplines as...
Labor/Employment
Using effective severance agreements to limit liability
By David B. Monks
An effective severance agreement can help you reduce legal risk. As with any type of employment agreement, the devil is often ...
Civil Litigation
The (nearly) absolute power of California’s litigation privilege
By Drew A. Harbur
Contrary to popular belief among lawyers, application of the litigation privilege is not limited to civil lawsuits.
Corporate
10 considerations for your social enterprise’s legal form
By Susan H. Mac Cormac, Jesse Finfrock
Instead of merely following the latest trend for choosing a legal form, founders should weigh the following considerations.
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Pay attention to the rules when defending depositions
By Shari L. Klevens, Alanna G. Clair
Even with knowledge of the rules, attorneys can sometimes let their emotions get the best of them in the heat of a deposition....
Civil Litigation, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Biometric privacy ruling could cost Facebook billions
By Kamran Salour
On Thursday, the 9th Circuit affirmed the district court’s order certifying a class of Facebook users who allege that Facebook...
Real Estate/Development
Waiver of subrogation clauses in commercial leases: what and why
By Andrew S. Bragin
Subrogation means the stepping of one person into the legal place of another. In a lease where there is a “waiver of subrogati...
Tax
When it comes to advice for filing your taxes, can you rely on the IRS?
By Robert W. Wood
There is a long list of publications that you actually can rely on, including the tax code and the regulations. There are many...
Government, Constitutional Law
Coffee safety declaration violates separation of powers
By Raphael Metzger
When the governor not only executes the laws, but also orders the adoption of laws to overturn judicial decisions, the governo...