Health Care & Hospital Law, Government, Civil Rights, Administrative/Regulatory
Statewide condom law ignores reality of industry
By Chauntelle Anne Tibbals
Plans to take L.A.'s law requiring condom use in porn productions statewide in 2016 are ill-conceived. ...
Days after introducing 'new' corporate prosecution guidelines encouraging the prosecution of individuals, the DOJ announced an...
Government, Corporate, Administrative/Regulatory
DOJ authority to strike deals with defendants limited
By Michael M. Farhang
On Sept. 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument in a significant case on the U.S. Department o...
Who wins when the Fed refuses to raise interest rates, yet again?
Criminal, Civil Rights
Transgender jail policy a major advance
By Sanford Jay Rosen, Aaron J. Fischer
SF recently announced a plan to allow transgender prisoners who identify as female to participate in programs in women's jail.
Constitutional Law, California Supreme Court
Testing the temerity of the takings clause
By Basil S. Shiber
Recent cases have tested the scope of the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in a variety of conte...
New Tesla's speeds are ludicrous
By Paul R. Kiesel
Can you imagine what it's like for the beleaguered general counsel of Tesla when Musk asks about including a "ludicrous" mode?
Pursuing an appeal in a civil case is risky and expensive — so be sure you know it's worth rolling the dice.
Civil Litigation, California Courts of Appeal
Lawsuit presents anti-SLAPP conundrum
By Joel McCabe Smith
A lawsuit in Orange County recently presented an interesting anti-SLAPP statute conundrum: Who should decide in the first inst...
Government, Criminal, Corporate, Administrative/Regulatory
DOJ shifts focus to individual misconduct
By Sara J. O'Connell
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an initiative to pursue individuals who perpetrate corporate wrongdoing. ...
U.S. Supreme Court
If we don't look to original meaning, what else is there?
By Eric C. Tung
Justice Scalia adheres to "originalism," a method of interpretation that looks to the commonly understood meaning of the Const...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Speech isn't so free in DC
By Erwin Chemerinsky
The D.C. Circuit was wrong in a recent decision upholding a ban on speech activities in the plaza in front of the Supreme Court.
Civil Litigation, Labor/Employment
Does Chipotle GMO suit go too far?
By Gene F. Williams
As Americans become more health conscious, they have demanded more transparency regarding ingredients. But Gene Williams says ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Mediation is a tale of two unlikely stories
By Robert S. Mann
The mediation process often requires each party's original "story" to be extensively rewritten. ...
Earlier this month, the IRS decided not to provide Yahoo with an opinion letter on the proper tax treatment of Yahoo's spinoff...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, Constitutional Law
Call to decriminalize sex work is correct
By Jerald Mosley
Prostitutes have human rights. In recognition of those rights, Amnesty International has called on all nations to decriminaliz...
California's own state court have secretly narrowed privacy guarrantees under the California Constitution. ...
A Court of Appeal recently wrote an important opinion in family law regarding a community's interest in a separater property b...
Yesterday, Labor Day, was my 40th anniversary. Labor Day 1975. Four decades ago. That is when it happened. Could have been fou...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Welcome to mediation, let's get started
By James P. Gray
Good morning, my name is Jim Gray and I am your mediator to try to help you resolve your dispute. I'd like to share some thoug...
The state Supreme Court recently provided a useful analytic framework to determine whether non-legal malpractice cases brought...
Health Care & Hospital Law, Civil Rights
Reproductive liberty extends to 'social surrogacy'
By Judith Daar
A recent human interest story featured Dylan Lauren, daughter of Ralph Lauren, who spoke of her decision to hire another woman...
Labor/Employment, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Arbitration agreements must be fair to employees
By Gene F. Williams
A Court of Appeal recently held that an agreement to arbitrate that an employee was required to sign on her first day of work ...
Recently, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released a package of proposed procedural revisions affecting post-grant procee...
Labor/Employment
Has PAGA really saved the wage and hour mass action?
By Gene F. Williams
California employees increasingly are turning to the Private Attorneys General Act for mass wage and hour actions, but should ...
U.S. Supreme Court, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Circuit reversals portend new term
By Lawrence Waddington
As summer yields to autumn, and a U.S. Supreme Court 2015-2016 emerges in October, lawyers and judges can expect another round...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Criminal
Review a court's duty to instruct a jury
By Henry J. Hall
Learn the basics of a court's duty to instruct a jury in a criminal case in this month's MCLE column. ...
Civil Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Plan will force us to desert mediation
By A. Marco Turk
The California Law Revision Commission wants to amend state law to pierce the veil of mediation confidentiality in cases where...
In a recent case, the state high court fell in line with most of the rest of the country when it comes to the enforceability o...
The sooner the courts can help themselves to a clearer "self-help" doctrine under Brady, the better off prosecutors and...