Mediation Confidential
If it's not broke.
Government, Constitutional Law
Can Obama Bring Us Back From the Dark Side?
By Erwin Chemerinsky
One of President-elect Barack Obama’s first actions must be to change course and to repudiate the Bush administration’s polici...
Careful practitioners should calculate appellate deadlines arising from all possible scenarios or interpretations and file at ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Crossing Out Rights
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
It remains a legal mystery why church doctrine or authority should ever shade an individual's fundamental right. ...
The appointments of federal judges are what most define a president and represent his most enduring contribution — either good...
Our accumulated economic history of the past half century has subtle, but significant consequences for labels in law.
Con Jobs
By Joseph H. Cooper
For those recently or about-to-be released from prison, job opportunities increase the will to resist the temptations — and av...
Securities, Corporate
The SEC Sheds Light on Enforcement Procedures
By Thomas A. Zaccaro
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency that regulates corporate transparency, now has provided some transp...
Civil Litigation
Keeping the Courthouse Door Open to Everyone - This Time
By Rochelle Bobroff, Ian Millhiser
By applying one standard to low-income families, and another to the Republican Party, the 6th Circuit employed an unconscionab...
Two recent cases will make some judges think at least twice before granting an insurer's summary motion, let alone a demurrer.
An upcoming case on the Supreme Court's docket potentially provides the court with the occasion to bring First Amendment law c...
This election's candidates who are trained as lawyers have better used their skills to appropriately define issues and marshal...
Criminal
Do Government-Backed Prosecutors Really Represent 'the People'?
By Konrad Moore
Permitting the prosecution to adopt a label that rightfully includes those very "people" charged with deciding the case risks ...
Environmental & Energy, California Supreme Court
A Public Trust Renaissance
By Richard M. Frank
The public trust doctrine, a cornerstone of modern environmental law in California, has been relatively quiescent in recent ye...
The state Supreme Court had an easy opportunity to set a high standard for attorney conduct, and muffed it badly.
Guns and Guantanamo are so last term. Here's what's on the horizon for the U.S. Supreme Court's October 2008 term.
Government, Administrative/Regulatory
Lawyers Were Never the Problem
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
Entirely unregulated markets have resulted in a form of big-government socialism beyond would-be regulators' wildest dreams. T...
The Supreme Court is clearly giving little weight to its oft-stated presumption against finding pre-emption, writes Erwin Chem...
Since over 90 percent of all family law cases eventually settle, there is something to be said for trying to get it right the ...
A Fate Worse Than Death: Prisoners' Takes on Punishment
By Joseph H. Cooper
Forget about criminologists and penologists. In considering how to deal with Sept. 11 conspirators, consult convicts, writes J...
Antonin Scalia's dissent in this year's Guantanamo ruling was disturbing because of its accusation that the majority has harme...
Judges and Judiciary
The Bench Paradox: As Need for Federal Jurists Grows, More Leave
By William Domnarski
The recent news that George Schiavelli announced he was leaving the district bench,helps illustrate the paradox that, in a tim...
In law, a party that doesn't want the evidence examined has something to hide, Robert Bastian writes. ...
The Bush administration’s position that the strength of U.S. disability laws obviates the need to sign a U.N. human rights tre...
The contrast between the spectacle of the Olympics and the gritty reality of competition parallels with law, in particular, ru...
Why Your Company's Communications With Environmental Regulators Put It at Risk for Personal Injury Litigation and What You Can...
Literature has always had compelling relevance to the law because of its ability to create and renew empathy and understanding.
Judges and Judiciary
Kozinski: Stay on the Bench, or Get Off the Court?
By William Domnarski
By staying on as chief judge, Alex Kozinski is eroding the public's faith in the 9th Circuit, writes William Domnarski. - Foru...
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Kozinski: Stay on the Bench, or Get Off the Court?
By Erwin Chemerinsky
Judges are allowed to engage in legal behavior that does not affect their ability to carry out their duties, writes Erwin Chem...
Since the Supreme Court's ruling in 'Campbell' in 2003, there has been much appellate activity in analyzing jury awards of pun...