Can employees be on call on break?
By Jessica M. Di Palma
A pending case will test the state Supreme Court's facility in addressing the effects of rapidly changing technology in the wo...
And direct appointments to the bench are fine.
Here is a radical concept: We should go away from those criminal justice approaches that don't work, and implement the ones th...
Civil Litigation, Family
Celebrity embryo dispute could yield long-awaited precedent
By Judith Daar
Actress Sofia Vergara and former fiancé Nick Loeb are in a custody over two frozen embryos created during the couple's now-def...
The news of late has been replete with stories of death at sea as refugees make their way to Europe, but there is also a crisi...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, Constitutional Law
Private payment, private sex
By Jerald Mosley
Is sexual privacy a constitutional right? If so, does that cover private payment for private sex? Those are questions posed in...
Tax, Government, Civil Rights, Administrative/Regulatory
Taxpayers may avoid paying for sex change
By Mark S. Pulliam
Due to an unexpected parole recommendation, taxpayers may avoid paying for sex change operation for a transgender prisoner. ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Intellectual Property
Defense won't fly in patent scuffles
By Ben M. Davidson
On Tuesday, the U.S. Surpeme Court held that a good faith belief that a patent is invalid is not a defense to a claim of induc...
Civil Litigation, Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Criminal
When a court learns of jury misconduct post-trial
By Kathryne Ann Stoltz
Review the rules a judge must follow in addressing potential juror misconduct post-trial, and to discuss some of the more typi...
U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court
Yet another attack on contract integrity
By Deborah J. La Fetra
The U.S. high court recently granted certiorari in a case that represents the latest assault by California courts on the integ...
Explore the benefits of judicial reference
By Charles L. Pernicka
General judicial reference is an underutilized alternative to arbitration that avoids the unpredictability of an arbitration a...
The high court may have allowed the plaintiffs' claims to 'pass go,' but they may not be able to collect 200 dollars after the...
Last week, banker and secular Bangladeshi writer, Ananta Bijoy Das, was hacked to death by men with machetes as he left his ho...
Egg donors are sometimes paid up to $50,000. Many donors assume these payments are tax-free, since payments for physical injur...
Intellectual Property
Apple's trade dress disrobed by court
By Jocelyn M. Belloni, Sharoni S. Finkelstein
On Monday, the Federal Circuit vacated $382 million of the $930 million in damages awarded to Apple against Samsung related to...
Letters, Judges and Judiciary, Government
Bench diversity efforts leave out some groups
By Peter A. Lynch
Unfortunately, a closer look at recent statistics released by the governor's office paint a much different story on diversity ...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility, State Bar & Bar Associations
Will state licensing regimes survive?
By Teresa J. Schmid
Standing alone, the U.S. high court's decision in Dental Examiners did not represent any new challenges for the State B...
Technology
On May 6, the European Commission issued a new digital single market strategy for Europe laying out the proposed roadmap for a...
Last week, the state high court rejected arguments that settlement payments exceeding the costs of litigation or the value of ...
Government, Constitutional Law
Door to campaign finance regulation
By Erwin Chemerinsky
Does a recent decision by the U.S. high court represent the beginning of a new jurisprudence in the area of campaign finance law?
Long before the recent events in Garland, Texas, some members of PEN, an association of writers, were suffering from their own...
Real Estate/Development, Administrative/Regulatory
Cities grappling with 'short-term rental scofflaws'
By Andrew S. Azarmi
On May 6, San Francisco's city attorney announced a settlement marking the first widely reported resolution of an action again...
Letters, Judges and Judiciary, Government
More work ahead to diversify bench, but much progress made
By Evan Westrup
A recent article, while rightly highlighting the need for a diverse judiciary, also unfairly ignores important strides that ha...
Appellate justices and law clerks are busy. They do not want to - and won't - take the time to decipher and untangle ambiguous...
Labor/Employment
New family rights act: the good, the bad and the ugly
By Marc A. Koonin
While the adoption of the most significant revisions to the CFRA regulations in 20 years is primarily good news for employers,...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Reining in 9th Circuit's habeas record
By Lawrence Waddington
A recent Supreme Court ruling has indirectly prevented the 9th Circuit from continuing to circumvent state courts in habeas co...
In accepting a recent case, it appears that the Supreme Court wishes to address where class actions fit within our legal syste...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Surprising alliance on campaign speech
By Charles S. Doskow
In Williams-Yulee, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a majority that found him joining with the court's four liberal justic...
Will the justices weigh in on pot?
By John H. Minan
On Monday, the U.S. high court asked for the solicitor general's views in a case brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colo...
Last May, I wrote about the Montana rape case that drew national attention, shock and ire. Due to the gravity of the crime, th...