Civil Litigation, California Courts of Appeal, Appellate Practice
A class-ic exception
By Benjamin G. Shatz
The powerful general rule favoring affirmances is subject, naturally, to several exceptions. There are some specific instances...
Tax, Government, Administrative/Regulatory
Should you rush to file your taxes or get an extension?
By Robert W. Wood
Individual tax returns are usually due April 15, but this year you get until April 17. Should you rush to file on time or go o...
Note to valued readers: What appears in the following column is not an April Fools' joke. Please observe that the publication ...
Most lawyers who represent appellants lose. In recent years, the statistics are pretty consistent.
Civil Litigation, Letters
CLAY Award profile misrepresented the case
By David M. Barnes
We are deeply disappointed by the inaccuracies and untrue statements in the March 21 CLAY Award profile of Jessie C. Kornberg ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
‘Blurred Lines’ decision was not at all shocking
By Howard Abrams
I have read with interest, and a sense of bemusement, headlines about the 9th Circuit's decision in much-watched copyright inf...
U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Labor/Employment, Constitutional Law
California unions bracing for impact of high court decision
By Jamie E. Wright
As the U.S. Supreme Court ponders compelled payment of agency fees, labor unions prepare for the outcome.
Transportation, Government, Administrative/Regulatory
The future arrives Monday
By Elise R. Sanguinetti
On April 2, new regulations from the California Department of Motor Vehicles go into effect. Starting very soon you may see an...
Civil Litigation, Law Practice, Alternative Dispute Resolution
The attack on arbitration continues
By Michael H. Leb
A consumer group recently sent the California attorney general a letter “urging” him to “investigate the practices of private ...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Civil Litigation
How lawyers can better engage the bench in e-discovery
By Judy Holzer Hersher
If you want an interested judge, you need to be an attentive advocate.
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Taming professional liability trends and costs
By Louie H. Castoria
A 2017 survey of lawyers' professional liability insurers shows an upward trend in the average fees and costs incurred in defe...
Letters, Judges and Judiciary, Government
People can honestly, and in good faith, disagree
By John "Jack" Quirk
How do we get back to accepting that it is possible for persons honestly and in good faith to reach conclusions we do not share?
Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
9th Circuit’s ‘Blurred Lines’ ruling will stifle future creativity
By Edwin F. McPherson
We wait, hoping, for the sake of the music industry, that the court will hear this case en banc, and ultimately do the right t...
Law Practice, Law Office Management, California Supreme Court
Clients are not law firm property, and neither are lawyers
By Daniel O'Rielly, Dena Roche
The California Supreme Court recently held that a dissolved law firm has no property interest in fees generated after dissolut...
Los Angeles residents will remember that in 2016, news agencies reported that anti-gentrification activists in the Latinx neig...
Absent a codified exception, party declarations in family law matters are now disallowed if there is no opportunity for cross-...
Real Estate/Development, Government, Environmental & Energy, Administrative/Regulatory
Takeaways from California land use conference
By Scott B. Birkey, David P. Waite
Argent Communications Group held its Fourth Annual Conference on California Land Use Law and Policy on March 5 in Los Angeles.
Government, Criminal
10 questions about the grand jury in Mueller probe
By David A. Katz
Defense attorney David Katz sheds some light on the secretive grand jury process.
International Law, Intellectual Property, Government, Antitrust & Trade Reg.
Next round of NAFTA talks may focus on IP protection
By Clark Zhang Ph.D., Vikram Iyengar
In April, the United States, Canada and Mexico will hold their latest round of negotiations to revise the North American Free ...
Judges and Judiciary, Immigration, Government, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Behind closed doors at the 9th Circuit
By Joshua M. Stein
The Oral Screening Panel is meant to help streamline the court's workload but often results in deportation decisions being mad...
U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Constitutional Law, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Constitutional protection against temporary takings
By Michael M. Berger
A common sense conclusion lies at the heart of the Martins Beach case -- that is, the constitution does not distinguish betwee...
Letters, Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Government
To ignore integrity is to attack integrity
By Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar
As Justice Anthony Kline reminds us, certain developments in recent years have threatened to make it more difficult for courts...
Civil Litigation, Education Law, Criminal, California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal
New ground for California college students
By Alan Charles Dell'Ario
When she went to her UCLA chemistry lab on Oct. 8, 2009, Katherine Rosen didn't know her classmate was hearing voices in his h...
Probate, Family, California Supreme Court, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
High court can recognize broad aspirations of fertility patients
By Judith Daar
The 9th Circuit is asking the California Supreme Court to interpret the impact of a state law bearing on the parental status a...
Government, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
‘Scraping’ is just automated access, and everyone does it
By Jamie Lee Williams
If courts allow companies to use the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to block automated access by competitors, it will threaten o...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Government
Dangerous courthouses put employees at risk
By Eric Siddall
If a private landlord rented a commercial office space and the building was considered unfit to withstand an earthquake, we wo...
Civil Litigation, Criminal, California Supreme Court, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Preliminary hearings and issue preclusion
By Denis Binder
Does a finding of probable cause in a preliminary hearing preclude a subsequent false arrest claim? Courts are split.
Civil Litigation, Government, Contracts, Construction, California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal
Ruling is a windfall to second-place bidders
By Michael J. Maurer, Dana M. Howard
A recent California appellate court opinion highlights the danger that the design-bid-build system can bring when it is not ap...
Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
En banc review of 'Blurred Lines' case is warranted
By Elliot N. Brown, Moon Hee Lee
In a split decision, the 9th Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the judgment after a jury trial that Pharrell Willi...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, State Bar & Bar Associations, Appellate Practice
5 things you should know about State Bar Court appeals
By Jennifer Teaford
The court follows different procedural rules from other appellate courts — and attorneys brought before the court for discipli...