Civil Litigation, Insurance, California Supreme Court
California high court is weighing significant coverage issue
By Rachel E. Hobbs
In Yahoo! Inc. v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, S253593, the California Supreme Court is considering a ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Are customized arbitration provisions the answer?
By Julie R. F. Gerchik, Michael L. Smith
While arbitration may risk unbridled discretion by the arbitrator or ultimately involve the same inefficiency of traditional l...
The potential ramifications in conflicts involving trusts are significant
Intellectual Property
Can the U.S. Patent Office handle 'artificial inventors'?
By David V. Sanker Ph.D, Jianbai "Jenn" Wang Ph.D
Over the past 230 years, patent law has adapted to accommodate new types of technology. The adaptations can be slow, inconsis...
In a 4-3 decision, and after many months of deliberation, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling on Sept. 16 in Bru...
Intellectual Property, Corporate
The scourge enveloping Silicon Valley: trade secret theft
By Lawrence M. Hadley, Christopher N. McAndrew
As recent cases have exposed, trade secret theft from former employees and potential business partners have become a scourge i...
During the middle of his tenure, Attorney General Jeff Sessions promulgated meta-guidance: guidance on guidance documents. Unl...
Labor/Employment, Government
AB 9 and AB 1510 may have greater ramifications than initially advertised
By Tao Y. Leung
Much of the discussion lately has been centered on AB 5, California's new worker classification law, but there are other bills...
A bill on the governor's desk would allow California athletes to finally earn name, image and likeness compensation
Tax, Government, Constitutional Law
The ongoing battle for Trump’s tax returns
By Charles S. Doskow
After argument, on September 19 the federal judge in Sacramento and granted the injunction on the enforcement of California's ...
Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property
Survey says: Not so fast in secondary meaning cases
By Antonio R. Sarabia II
Judges and Judiciary, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
How to hold misbehaving judges accountable
By Dylan Hosmer-Quint
Judges should be held to the highest of ethical standards, and there's no reason they should keep a reward, like a pension, if...
U.S. Supreme Court, Government, Constitutional Law, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Definitional theft as government policy? Not so fast
By Michael M. Berger
It should have come as no surprise when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals looked askance on a definitional game played by ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
An innocuous Supreme Court case could be a blockbuster
By Daniel Ortner
A bankruptcy proceeding isn’t ordinarily what you think of as a Supreme Court blockbuster. But when the bankruptcy proceeding ...
Legal publications abound with articles about the benefits of working as an in-house attorney. Being in-house, however, brings...
Labor/Employment, Government, California Supreme Court
AB 5: Time to get Uber it and move on
By Ronald L. Zambrano
The reports of Uber’s death, to paraphrase Mark Twain, are greatly exaggerated. When Governor Newsom signed AB 5 into law, he ...
Tax, Civil Litigation
Purdue settlements and others as tax deductions
By Robert W. Wood
In America, litigation and lawyers are costs of doing business. Businesses can and do deduct their legal costs. And in most ca...
Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court
Anti-SLAPP: The catchall that caught too much
By Jason D. Russell, Hillary A. Hamilton
In three recent decisions, the California Supreme Court appears to have launched a campaign to curb the broad application of C...
Government, Civil Rights
Housing is a human right: A right to counsel for tenants
By Skip Koenig
The Los Angeles City Council is on the verge of enacting our own Right to Counsel Program, providing legal counsel to tenants ...
Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court
Sanchez revisited: A better way to handle objections
By Timothy D. Reuben
The California Supreme Court wreaked havoc on the trial courts when it issued its decision in People v. Sanchez, 63 Cal. 4th 6...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, California Supreme Court, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
The two imperatives of the First Amendment
By Mitchell Keiter
Do free speech principles prohibit political bias on media like YouTube and Twitter, or do these sites enjoy a property right ...
Labor/Employment, Government
A recap of new employer requirements as cleanup bill passes
By Gage C. Dungy
Following last year's Senate Bill 1343 and its expansion of harassment prevention training requirements for supervisory and no...
I am in the wrong line of work. But I am fine with that. Nowadays, we have to transition to the internet. I’m among the last o...
Judges and Judiciary, Ethics/Professional Responsibility, State Bar & Bar Associations
Bill would require implicit bias training for judges and lawyers
By Elana R. Levine
AB 242 recognizes that many judges and lawyers have implicit negative biases against minority groups including. It would autho...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Performing preventative maintenance on your practice
By David M. Majchrzak, Heather L. Rosing
In many, if not the overwhelming majority of cases, responding to a disciplinary complaint or a legal malpractice claim will o...
Modern western American fiction has many masters such as Wallace Stegner and Ivan Doig. But they all build on one iconic but n...
Real Estate/Development, Government, Administrative/Regulatory
A watershed moment for rent protections
By CJ Higley, Katy Tang
California is currently in the midst of a watershed moment. An acute awareness and a widespread recognition of a housing affor...
Civil Rights
Establishing comparative fault in a vehicle vs scooter claims
By Annette Mijanovic, Philip McDermott
Learn how to use negligence per se to establish comparative negligence in car versus motorized scooter cases.
Intellectual Property
Federal Circuit decides question of first impression on design patents
By Mark Kachner
In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently held that the figures contained in a...
Government, Administrative/Regulatory
State Legislature amends key privacy law to take effect in January
By Grant Davis-Denny, Nefi Acosta
On Sept. 13, the California Legislature passed six bills amending the CCPA. Although these amendments still require the govern...