Websites and the duty to warn
By Daniel Brenner
Courts may be narrowing the protections that the Communications Decency Act provides websites. ...
Required right of publicity reading
By Jens B. Koepke
The California Court of Appeal recently clarified two important issues regarding right of publicity cases: assignability and c...
There is no way to entirely prevent getting audited. While the Franchise Tax Board often piggybacks on whatever the IRS has do...
Corporate
Up close and personal with Delaware
By Darian M. Ibrahim, Brian J. Broughman
One of the enduring topics of interest in corporate law is why Delaware dominates the market for incorporations.
Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports
Streaming for dollars in the music industry
By Michael R. Morris
The music industry is currently transitioning from an "ownership" model to an "access" model.
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Backing into marriage equality
By Erwin Chemerinsky
I applaud the result of the Supreme Court's denying review in marriage equality cases involving five states, but disagree with...
Labor/Employment
Workplace texting creating a growing list of implications
By Andrew J. Hoag
A review of the laws implicated by the increasing prevalence of texting in the workplace.
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Justices taking a look at dog sniffs
By Michael J. Raphael
When officers stop a car for a traffic violation, they may employ a trained dog to sniff the vehicle for drugs. But how long m...
Criminal
Mental health and ending female genital mutilation
By Arthur F. Silbergeld, Christine Robles
As the U.S. seeks to expand its efforts against female genital mutilation, it needs a better understanding of its scale and se...
Judges and Judiciary
Recognizing confirmation bias: It's a start
By Curtis E.A. Karnow
Every mediator and settlement judge knows this moment: The client or the lawyer has just made an outlandish, insane statement ...
Intellectual Property, Administrative/Regulatory
FCC axes sports blackout rule, what now?
By John F. Stephens, Jason M. Joyal
Recently, the FCC unanimously voted to end its nearly 40-year-old sports blackout rule that barred cable and satellite provide...
Many lawyer jokes are about attorney fees. But bankruptcy lawyers didn't find anything funny last April when the 5th Circuit h...
Tax, Real Estate/Development, Government, Administrative/Regulatory
Tax increment financing making a return to California
By Jon Goetz
New state legislation expanding the use of property tax increment through infrastructure financing districts gives local gover...
U.S. Supreme Court, Labor/Employment
Justices should recognize ERISA fiduciary's continuing duties
By Michelle L. Roberts
The U.S. Supreme Court recent granted certiorari in Tibble v. Edison International to answer an important ERISA question.
Intellectual Property
Bill would shift trade secrets landscape
By Thomas P. O'Brien, Daniel Prince
The Trade Secrets Protection Act would create a federal civil remedy for trade secrets misappropriation and improve our trade ...
Insurance, Constitutional Law
Was it a bailout, or a taking of property?
By Gideon Kanner
Former managers and shareholders of AIG are suing Uncle Sam in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, claiming that the treatment t...
Administrative/Regulatory
With few exceptions, consumer bills lost this session
By Amy P. Lally
The legislative year that ended Sept. 30 dealt a number of losses to lawmakers who pursued high-profile consumer products and ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
High court elections clause case is a sleeper sequel
By Justin Levitt
Sequels are rarely bigger blockbusters than the original. But for the second time in three years, the U.S. Supreme Court has t...
Competitive Scrabble-players by Hasbro's attempts to claim exclusive copyright ownership of both the OSPD and OWL word lists a...
A few months ago I was at a "bar event." They are all the same. Lawyers and judges schmooze over h'oeuvres and drinks. (Will n...
Environmental & Energy
Beach access case nowhere near done
By John F. Barg, Nicole M. Martin
The legal battles over public access to Martins Beach are by no means over and, in fact, create a potentially interesting back...
Criminal, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
We need alternatives to prison for disabled inmates
By Claudia B. Center
We must prioritize creative alternatives to incarceration that include community-based supports for people with disabilities.
Transportation, Administrative/Regulatory
Privacy prevails at state Capitol
By Douglas E. Mirell, Matthew A.F. Blackett
Californians can thank their Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown for enacting a number of new laws that will serve to protect per...
Transportation, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Guidance lacking for on-street disabled parking
By Michael J. Maurer
The 9th Circuit recently ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires cities to provide on-street parking that is a...
On Sept. 22, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled that California's copyright statute includes the exclusive right to "p...
Corporate
Could a merger follow the PayPal-eBay split?
An independent PayPal is expected to be much more appealing to potential customers like Amazon.com who compete with eBay. And ...
Corporate, Administrative/Regulatory
Cybersecurity begins with the C-suite
By Mary Ellen Callahan, Daniel E. Chudd
This month marks the third anniversary of the release of guidance by the SEC on the disclosure obligations of public companies...
You can't raise new legal theories on appeal... usually
By David J. de Jesus
One rule of appellate practice is that an appellant must adhere to the theory of the case that was presented in the trial cour...
When and how does one disengage from an extraordinary career?
Environmental & Energy
Science refutes fracking opposition
By Jeffrey Dintzer, Nathaniel Johnson
The groundwater contamination caused by fracking has been a central component of the anti-fracking narrative. By Jeffrey Dintz...