Labor/Employment
Fiduciary duty applies to employee retirement benefit plans
By Robert J. McKennon
Morris is significant because it changed the landscape of ERISA fiduciary duty law on these types of issues in a favora...
It feels strange to celebrate decisions that do not change the law or provide any greater protection of civil rights than exis...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Duty creep: the expanding obligations of attorneys to nonclients
By Wendy Thomas
The Gordon court's caveat that liability would extend to a decedent's beneficiaries only when the client's intent is "c...
U.S. Supreme Court, Land Use
The U.S. Supreme Court gives new contours to the term "wetland" in Sackett v. EPA
By Maureen F. Gorsen, Caleb J. Bowers
The Sackett opinion reinforces a recent trend focused on narrow textual readings of statutory requirements and reining ...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Lewis Brisbois is the pot calling the kettle black in the Barber Ranen fiasco
By Benjamin T. Ikuta
Lewis Brisbois did not reveal these emails out of some desire to raise awareness of racism or sexism. Like a jilted, jealous, ...
Insurance, Alternative Dispute Resolution
The arbitrator has a right under the law to award judgment over and above UM/UIM policy limits
By Albert Abkarian
In most cases you should file a motion to prevent the policy limits from being mentioned in the brief to the Arbitrator. I str...
There are exceptions. Before 2021, student debt cancellation was generally considered a form of income, and therefore taxable ...
Technology, Constitutional Law
Will Montana's TikTok ban pass constitutional muster?
By Amanda K. Perez
The State of Montana, through the passage of Senate Bill 0419, has found itself juggling its protection of Montanans by bannin...
Judges and Judiciary
The anatomy of settling a civil rights case
By Louise A. LaMothe, Michael R. Wilner
We know the applicable law, review the District Judge’s rulings, and learn the facts. If there is bodycam footage, we get it a...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal
Aggressive federal fraud prosecutions based on broad intangible rights theories reined in by the Supreme Court
By Matthew E. Sloan, Matthew J. Tako
Ciminelli and Percoco are the latest chapter in a long running tug of war between the Court and prosecutors to d...
Torts/Personal Injury
Implied assumption of risk in sports activities
By Reza Torkzadeh, Allen P. Wilkinson
A defendant’s duty depends on the nature of the sport or activity and its inherent risks. A defendant has no duty to eliminate...
U.S. Supreme Court, Securities
Supreme Court limits claims for direct listings
By Jared L. Kopel
In remanding the case to the 9th Circuit for further consideration, the Court dropped a tantalizing footnote suggesting that t...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Voting rights decision restores protection for minority voters and Supreme Court bipartisanship
By James J. Brosnahan
The majority that supported this opinion could not have found a better case to establish that they are not just a political co...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Sentiments to protect access to firearms may finally be changing
By A. Marco Turk
The U.S. Supreme Court has acknowledged that the government may regulate “assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.” At le...
This week, it appears the #MeToo reckoning has reached the legal community; something that lawyers should all welcome a...
U.S. Supreme Court, Intellectual Property
Warhol decision strengthens and expands copyright protection
By Dariush Adli
A subtle but key aspect of the high Court’s fair-use analysis concerned the reference point from which any alleged transformat...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Tips for law firms to protect communications with in-house counsel
By Alanna G. Clair, Shari L. Klevens
If an attorney is concerned about a specific risk with regard to a client matter but fails to apprise in-house counsel or seek...
Labor/Employment, Government
Whistleblowing awards are on the rise, but payouts vary depending on the program or statute utilized
By Robin G. Workman
Although lacking the incentives of the federal whistleblower statutes, or the California False Claims Act, California Labor Co...
Government, Cannabis
SB 302 expands the Compassionate Use Act
By Christina Weed, Diana Lopez
Torts/Personal Injury, Government
Supreme Court remands Palos Verdes bicycle accident case back to trial court, to address failure to warn claim
By Garret D. Murai
The California Supreme Court explained that while Government Code section 830.6 immunizes a public entity for creating a dange...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
The scope of arbitration clauses
By Gary A. Watt, Patrick Burns
In a recent Ninth Circuit opinion applying California's arbitration law, the question of scope took center stage
Torts/Personal Injury
School injuries result from inadequate teacher supervision
By Michael E. Rubinstein
Lack of supervision, or ineffective supervision, may constitute a lack of ordinary care on the part of those responsible for ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Labor/Employment
Workers facing discipline for destroyed concrete due to union strike may still be protected
By Richard G. McCracken
One might think that the NLRB must defer to what the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled, but it need not and probably won’t....
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Establishing protocols for videoconference depositions
By Scott E. Boyer
As several recent cases illustrate, the remote nature of videoconference depositions has also lent itself to deposition abuses...
Given the Supreme Court’s propensity for making up new “taking” situations, I propose the following: for those individuals who...
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
It’s 5 p.m.! Do you know where your brief is?
By Benjamin G. Shatz, Tal P. Edelstein
When notice of a proposed rule change regarding filing deadlines was issued, the Third Circuit invited comments – and comments...
In this 283-page book by Tania Branigan about the afterlives of China’s cultural revolution, if the book had a thesis, it wou...
U.S. Supreme Court, Torts/Personal Injury
Fear and trembling with apologies to Kierkegaard
By Arthur Gilbert
Even if the results AI achieves are helpful, its use may foster the atrophy of the human creative brain. If this happens, our ...
“Berkeley” denoted Bishop George Berkeley, a prominent Irish philosopher. I had only a passing acquaintance with 18th century ...
Cultural interest in marriage was created before the California solemnization of marriage. In some far horizons, many moons be...