From 2018 through 2022, 69% of personnel cases involving VA employees included allegations of whistleblower retaliation. Durin...
Technology, Intellectual Property
The future of patent law with the emergence of artificial intelligence
By Manita Rawat
The issue of inventorship in our country’s patent laws for AI-created inventions will continue to be important as more compani...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Employers subject to stricter religious accommodation standard under Title VII
By Tal Burnovski Yeyni
While the Groff decision constitutes a big change for Title VII religious accommodation claims, California laws and ru...
Government, Civil Procedure
The California Legislature needs to expand the personal jurisdiction consent statute
By Steven R. Young
Companies with unclean hands tend to remove cases from California's state courts when a Californian seeks to recover damages f...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Tips for mediating your next wage and hour case
By Michael Strauss
Lawyers generally are not mathematicians; mistakes in their calculations are common. Rather than point out your opponent’s mis...
Contracts
Unwritten construction contracts are as risky as a triple dog dare and a frozen pole
By Garret D. Murai
Although there was no written contract with an attorneys’ fee provision and no claim-specific statute providing for the recove...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Summer associates provide case load relief, but there are risks
By Alanna G. Clair, Shari L. Klevens
Risks associated with summer associate programs arise from the obligation to supervise the inexperienced newcomers, and firm-s...
Land Use, Government
Streamlining provisions won’t apply to Delta Conveyance Project
By Hina Gupta
The final budget bill recently signed by the Governor includes the overall CEQA reforms, but removed the Delta Conveyance Pro...
Technology
Altered intelligence: will it make us better, worse or extinct?
By A. Marco Turk
It has been said the most nightmarish scenario one can imagine with AI and robotics is a world where robots have become so pow...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary
Listening to hear is a start, but it’s also important to fairly consider conflicting viewpoints
By Mark B. Baer
Judges are supposed to decide cases in an impartial manner. This does not mean that judges are free of bias (which is humanly ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Intellectual Property
Artistry no excuse for trademark infringement where use is source identifying
By David Martinez, Zac Cohen
Trademark plaintiffs should lean on Jack Daniels Properties and the recent opinion in Hermès to defeat motions to dismiss and ...
Civil Rights, Administrative/Regulatory
The CFPB’s ability to prohibit discrimination against prospective credit applicants may weaken, but it could have a back-up plan
By Scott Sakiyama, Amanda Lawrence
Industry observers should consider themselves on notice that the CFPB may pursue unfairness actions against consumer financial...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
New guidance regarding the role of legal assistants in law offices
By John B. Sullivan, Dale Bellitto
Earlier this month, the ABA issued Formal Opinion No. 506, which addresses a lawyer’s ethical obligations when he or she deleg...
Appellate Practice
Y’all behave now: looking to Texas for appellate civility standards
By Benjamin G. Shatz
California appellate courts and appellate bar organizations could easily modify, adopt, and perhaps improve on the templates s...
Technology, Law Practice
The need for speed: how smart lawyers use artificial intelligence
By Wendy L. Patrick
In order to spot false information, lawyers have to remain attentive. This is particularly true when seeking artificial assist...
Oppenheimer lied about his communism his entire life. He lied when he completed his Security Personnel Questionnaires for the ...
Labor/Employment, Government
Legislation that would protect certain domestic workers continues to move forward
By Algeria R. Ford
For many, Senate Bill 686 is a welcome next step to protect the health and safety of domestic workers who have been excluded f...
Torts/Personal Injury
Igniting discourse: a legal perspective on July Fourth fireworks
By Arash Homampour
Can an individual escape liability simply by relying on the fact that the fireworks that caused the harm were “safe and sane?”...
Civil Rights
The Strike! Part 2: Why California asparagus farmers ditched a legal battle and chose to strike instead
By Myron Moskovitz
Farmworkers had been cutting Green Giant asparagus for the settled price of $3 a box, but when the giant food company shorted ...
Cultural Divorce, Part VIII: Marrying your mother-in-law
By Abbas Hadjian
Next time you are asked to file for divorce of a client married in another country, test it for its validity where contracted....
Managing conflict at your Fourth of July gathering
By Richard Birke
When family and friends gather they often want to rehash the past. Sometimes that’s just lovely. Who doesn’t like to reminisce...
Antitrust & Trade Reg., Administrative/Regulatory
Don’t block the Microsoft-Activision merger
By Robert E. Bright
It is easy to sympathize with the FTC’s skepticism of increased marketplace concentration in the tech industry. Over the last...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Affirmatively deaf to the uniqueness of America
By Denisse O. Gastelum
While the practice of affirmative action may be imperfect and may have an impact on tuition and revenue, albeit minimal or non...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Unanimous decision facilitating religious accommodation is also victory for the Court
By Mitchell Keiter
Justice Alito’s opinion yesterday emphasized the recent shift in Establishment Clause jurisprudence toward greater accommodati...
Technology, Government
Mounting litigation and legislative action against social media that's harming kids is justified
By Frederick Schenk
California lawmakers recently voted to proceed with an updated version of SB 287, a bill that examines how social media compan...
Land Use, Environmental & Energy
Mineral King: a remote California valley and modern environmentalism
By John S. Caragozian
While the Sierra Club lost, two aspects of the Supreme Court’s ruling facilitated the subsequent half century of modern enviro...
Entertainment & Sports
Stream It Tonight! "LA Law Pilot" (1986)
By Michael Asimow, Paul Bergman
Prior to the debut of LA Law, lawyers on television had zero resemblance to real lawyers.
Obituaries, Judges and Judiciary
Goodbye and Hello to Judge Arnold Gold
By Arthur Gilbert
For more than 30 years, I was enriched by Judge Arnold Gold’s friendship. He was a person of discriminating taste. He read all...
U.S. Supreme Court, Securities
Public interest in the wake of Slack Technologies, Inc. v. Pirani
By Megan J. Penick
Because no new money is generated, direct listings are not a frequently used technique for going public. Yet even if the strat...
Consumer Law, Constitutional Law
The MATCH List is Out of Control!
By Bryce M. Van De Moere, James Huber
Credit card companies are allowing an archaic set of rules to create an atmosphere where even a general request for an investi...