Environmental & Energy
Colorado River shortage: How does it affect California?
By Sean T. Hood
If trends continue, California could lose Colorado River water supply.
As COVID-19 forces counsel to make remote court appearances, an inadvertent casualty of the pandemic is that some attorneys ar...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
5 lousy reasons to fire and sue your lawyer
By Louie H. Castoria
Legal malpractice claims are most often caused by failures to communicate and can be avoided by successful two-way communicati...
Criminal
Let’s not forget about criminal justice reform during the pandemic
By John Mills
As we face the most challenging public health crisis of our lifetime, we should not forget how that crisis interacts with and ...
Data Privacy, Military Law
Military AI programs raise concerns over false identification
By Anita Taff-Rice
The military’s use of AI technology has sparked concerns that combat decisions could be made solely by computers, which could ...
Are there still tax issues in sexual abuse and sexual harassment cases? You bet. Whether arising from clergy sex abuse, athlet...
Corporate, Securities
SEC approves Nasdaq’s disclosure-based approach to improving diversity
By Virginia F. Milstead, Kasonni Scales
The new rule changes pertaining to board diversity, which require that companies “publicly disclose board-level diversity stat...
Labor/Employment
COVID long-haulers likely covered by the ADA
By Dan M. Forman, Allison O. Chua
Many people who contract COVID-19 recover completely within a few weeks. However, some individuals continue to experience symp...
Family
Court: premarital agreements that don’t comply with rules are void
By Franklin R. Garfield
In the context of an action for legal malpractice, the 2nd District Court of Appeal reminded family law practitioners that the...
California Supreme Court, Government
Ruling weighs mandatory, prohibitory injunction differences
By Gabriel McWhirter
Last week the California Supreme Court provided some welcome clarity to the rules that govern litigants’ rights and obligation...
It is interesting that the issue is arising at a time when more people want to go to law school than at any time in the last d...
Law Practice, Technology
It might be turtles all the way down for AI and the law
By Lance Eliot
There is a notably fabled expression that touts the idea that it is turtles all the way down. This is a catchy reference to a ...
What do lawyers think about? Easy: what to advise a client, how to draft a document, which witnesses to put on, etc. But there...
Administrative/Regulatory
Surge in False Claims Act enforcement continues
By Nick Hanna, Jim Zelenay Jr.
As the Biden administration settles into its first year, the government has signaled not only that the FCA remains its primary...
Judges and Judiciary, Law Practice
Post-COVID legal landscape shows deep divides
By Gerald L. Sauer
As we enter the next phase of post-pandemic life, there are more unknowns than knowns.
Criminal, Letters
Column on Gascón’s policies demonstrates the impact of implicit bias
By Mark B. Baer
If you read Eric Siddall’s August 11 column, paid close attention to what he was saying, how he was saying it, and did not all...
Tax
Lasting tax lessons from Michael Jackson’s multiple legal battles
By Robert W. Wood
The King of Pop died unexpectedly in 2009. The recent Tax Court victory by his estate was momentous and provides useful remind...
California Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Health Care & Hospital Law
Anti-SLAPP protections for hospital peer reviews: questions linger
By Barry S. Landsberg, Joanna S. McCallum
The California Supreme Court recently clarified the scope of protection under the anti-SLAPP law for communication and conduct...
Administrative/Regulatory
Californians can have their heightened animal welfare — and eat their bacon, too
By Rebecca Cary, Bruce Wagman
With the remaining components of California’s Proposition 12 — the state’s 2018 ballot initiative covering the in-state produc...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Law Practice
Civility is not dead: 8 tips for new attorneys entering legal practice
By Stephanie Dowds
The most artful attorneys can spar with opposing counsel, disagree with the judge, and have the jury nodding along with their ...
Law Practice, Legal Education, U.S. Supreme Court
Q&A with Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School
By William Domnarski
The revered professor has been for 40 years one of the nation's preeminent constitutional scholars. He's known as a great teac...
Legal Education
California accredited law school grads avoid crippling debt
By Mitchel L. Winick
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal lamented that law school has “lost its luster” as debts mount, salaries stagnate, ...
Civil Litigation
Mexico, drowning in American guns, is suing gun manufacturers
By Esther Sanchez-Gomez
In a groundbreaking lawsuit, the Mexican government filed suit against eight American gun manufacturers, accusing them of bein...
Constitutional Law, Government
When Washington bureaucrats control the reins of power
By Luke A. Wake, Ethan Blevins
Only days after admitting it needed Congress to help extend the eviction moratorium, the Biden administration went and did it ...
Law Practice, Technology
Attorney duty to inform clients about AI use in their practice
By Lance Eliot
Lawyers are legally bound by existing rules that require various stringent duties to communicate with their clients. A kerfuff...
Tax
Qualified settlement funds have become important dispute resolution vehicles
By Robert W. Wood
QSFs have blossomed into important as they possess remarkable tax efficiency.
According to District Attorney George Gascón, "The past four decades have not made us any safer." This recent ahistorical stat...
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Litigation
Making sense of the FAA exemption paradox
By Kevin Ruf
Courts have long struggled with the so-called “interstate commerce exemption” under the Federal Arbitration Act.
Constitutional Law, Government
COVID can’t cancel the Constitution
By Harmeet K. Dhillon, Michael Columbo
California has led the nation in responding to COVID-19 challenges with sweeping, unilateral executive decrees, rulemaking and...
California Supreme Court, Labor/Employment
State high court: pay meal and rest period premiums at regular rate
By Jasmine Shams, Jason Morris
As many California employers know all too well, California’s employment compliance landscape is a dense maze that is constantl...