Government, Corporate, Administrative/Regulatory
A first-of-its-kind FCPA ruling
By Debra Wong Yang, Poonam Kumar
The 11th Circuit held that an "instrumentality" is as "an entity controlled by the government of a foreign country that perfor...
Civil Litigation, Family, California Courts of Appeal
'Gamete friending'
By Judith Daar
The devil you know seems more appealing than the anonymous donor you can never meet. But deeper reflection is required. ...
Family, Alternative Dispute Resolution
In divorce mediation, parties are responsible
By Franklin R. Garfield
Most lawyers think of divorce as a legal proceeding with emotional implications. ...
Take-home pay is bigger in Texas, too
By Robert W. Wood
Considering the high cost of operating in the Golden State, Toyota's move from California to Texas will save big. It is not ju...
Health Care & Hospital Law, Administrative/Regulatory
Speech, intimidation and the anti-vaccine movement
By Dorit Reiss
Several events in the past weeks have brought home the point that the anti-vaccine movement's call for debate only stands as l...
Constitutional Law
Bring back the 'fit and proper' hearing
By Richard La Fianza, Kelly Byward
Before a child is charged as an adult, should there be a hearing before an impartial judge to determine if the child is fit fo...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
'Outsiders to their own government'
By Erwin Chemerinsky
The Town of Greece decision will mean that across the country meetings of town boards and city councils of all types of...
U.S. Supreme Court, Letters, Constitutional Law
A 'ministry of truth' is preferable to 'the falsity of the wealthy'
By Joel Drum
Re: "A state-sponsored 'ministry of truth,'" April 30. ...
Civil Rights
No shirt, no shoes, no service - maybe
By Stephen Allen Jamieson, Margaret Warner Rose
Businesses are facing a growing problem with persistent vagrants and panhandlers who regularly loiter outside stores and solic...
It seems clear that, as in California, the personnel on hand to execute Clayton Lockett were not capable of doing so in a mann...
Constitutional Law
High court prayer ruling was a purpose-driven decision
By William J. Becker Jr.
With five practicing Catholics on the bench, the outcome in Town of Greece is unsurprising though nevertheless comes wi...
Last October I wrote in this column about the Montana rape case which drew national attention, shock and ire. The basic facts ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
'Reading tea leaves,' or: applying the Crawford decision
By Brian M. Hoffstadt
Crawford v. Washington's interpretation of the Sixth Amendment's confrontation clause made quite a splash when first handed do...
Administrative/Regulatory
Hulu privacy action breathes new life into outmoded privacy law
By Mary Ellen Callahan
You can learn a lot about somebody from the movies and TV shows he or she watches. But under the Video Privacy Protection Act,...
Recent headlines may make it seem like San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrara is preparing to wage war on short-term renta...
Any law regulating expressive activity - even malicious expressive activity - must be narrowly and carefully drafted so as not...
"Even a dog," Justice Holmes famously wrote, "distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked." By Rory K. Little ...
Despite all the moral outrage, there has been little or no focus on the presumptive criminal violation that may have occurred....
U.S. Supreme Court, Environmental & Energy
EPA knows which way the wind blows
By R. Morgan Gilhuly, Christopher D. Jensen
The impact of a recent U.S. high court decision is that most power plants in the eastern half of the U.S. will face tighter li...
A lawyer I knew expressed regret that the law was so demanding that he could not devote enough time to appreciate the arts. I ...
Books, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Master the conflict-resolution dance
By Jan Frankel Schau
I have never had a formal dance lesson, so it was with some reluctance that I opened the new book published by the ABA's Secti...
A Level Playing Field
By Wendy L. Patrick
The rules of professional conduct don't just govern ethics -- they also ban discrimination. ...
Law Practice, Entertainment & Sports
Denial, it seems, is a river running through LA
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
Denial is not, as they say, just a river running through Egypt. So why, as the tidewaters linger from Donald Sterling's racist...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
A state-sponsored 'ministry of truth'
By Charles S. Doskow
The U.S. high court recently heard oral arguments about an Ohio law that penalizes false statements about candidates. ...
There is more to urban home life than proximity to trendy purveyors of haute cuisine and a latte-dispensing Starbucks within w...
Civil Litigation, Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Criminal
A primer on hearsay evidence
By Daniel J. Buckley
Earn MCLE credit reviewing one of the most common evidentiary issues that arises in both civil and criminal litigation: the ad...
Environmental & Energy
State leads way on drinking water standard
By Richard C. Coffin, David M. Metres
California recently became the first state in the nation to establish a drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium. ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, Constitutional Law
When cops make good faith mistakes
By Michael J. Raphael
What happens if the officer was mistaken about the facts or the law such that, with the proper information considered, the off...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Malicious prosecution case creates conflict in case law
By Kenneth C. Feldman
A court found that the applicable statute of limitations in malicious prosecution cases is not the legal malpractice statute o...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Has same-sex marriage become a 'political question'?
By Kris Whitten
A case before the 10th Circuit suggests that the U.S. high court may again be asked to determine whether states are free to d...