Consider the recent case of a Catholic priest for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose. He was sentenced to 36 months in pri...
Administrative/Regulatory, Government, Securities
SEC goes after its first initial coin offering
By David W. Adams, Edmund J. Zaharewicz
On Sept. 29, the SEC issued its first civil complaint against two companies and their founder for violating anti-fraud and re...
Corporate, Labor/Employment, Civil Litigation, U.S. Supreme Court
Yellow dog contracts, ‘jiggery-pokery’ and the FAA
By Linda S. Klibanow
As Justice Breyer intimated, a Supreme Court decision allowing employer prohibitions on employee class actions would "overturn...
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Appellate Practice, California Courts of Appeal, Civil Litigation
Settling some settlement issues with offers to compromise
By Michael J. Rubino
Abraham Lincoln advised attorneys: "Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can." Over a cen...
Judges and Judiciary, Civil Litigation
New law creates additional cause for courts to keep cases out of arbitration
By Chris Micheli
Senate Bill 33 amends Code of Civil Procedure Section 1281.2 to provide an additional instance when a court can make a determi...
Corporate, Law Practice, Civil Litigation
One-stop shop for business and commercial litigation
By Brad D. Brian, James C. Rutten
Wouldn't it be nice to have everything one needs to know collected in one place? Enter "Business and Commercial Litigation in...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Law Practice, Civil Litigation
Three tips for attorneys acting as neutrals
By J. Randolph Evans, Shari L. Klevens
Increased competition and sluggish demand for legal services has meant that attorneys and law firms are exploring different wa...
Assuming the pen is mightier than the sword, it is my hope that others will respond by doing something to ameliorate the pain ...
Families will always fight, and many of these disputes arise over money. This threat only increases with death, when the origi...
Constitutional Law, Entertainment & Sports, Government, U.S. Supreme Court
Working with free speech
By Jean-Paul Jassy
Sometimes a free speech issue is just a speech issue, and not a First Amendment issue. Other times, free speech issues harbor ...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Insurance, Law Practice
The role of attorneys when disasters strike
By Richard A. Hamar
Nine days after Hurricane Irma directly struck the Keys, I was witnessing what would be its worst of many days to come. Homes ...
Administrative/Regulatory, Government, Transportation
Local drone law preempted in first-of-its-kind ruling
By Jared Greenberg
A federal judge recently held that portions of the city of Newton, Massachusetts's ordinance attempting to regulate unmanned a...
Law Practice, Civil Litigation
Attacks on litigation funding are attacks on litigation itself
By David M. Gallagher
It’s no accident that the leading advocates of increasing barriers to litigation are representatives of industries whose busin...
Contracts, Corporate, Civil Litigation
Drafting mandatory forum selection clauses
By Theresa M. Troupson
Contracting parties might agree to a forum selection clause for any number of reasons: to ensure favorable legal precedent, to...
Appellate Practice, California Courts of Appeal, California Supreme Court, Civil Litigation
Hearsay and expert witnesses: relying or relating?
By Gary A. Watt
Can an expert rely on hearsay case-specific facts for purposes of reaching an opinion as long as the expert does not relate th...
Corporate, Intellectual Property, Civil Litigation, U.S. Supreme Court
Patent venue after TC Heartland
By Elise Edlin
While some courts held that physical presence in the district is not required, others determined that it is. The Federal Circu...
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Corporate, Labor/Employment, Civil Litigation, U.S. Supreme Court
Arguments note benefits of bilateral arbitration
By Wendy Mcguire Coats, Megan E. Walker
At oral argument on Monday, counsel for the respondent employees confirmed that if the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the cases b...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Letters
How about a qualified license to practice law?
By Mitchell Keiter
Applicants scoring at a specified intermediate level should receive a qualified law license to represent underserved clients.
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative/Regulatory, Civil Litigation
Sugar beverage ruling may provide defense in Proposition 65 cases
By Steven L. Feldman, Steven L. Crane
The 9th Circuit's ruling in the recent case challenging San Francisco's sugar-sweetened beverages ordinance could provide a de...
Administrative/Regulatory, Government, Labor/Employment
Employment-related bills passed this legislative session
By Pooja S. Nair
In the final installment of this two-part series, I will discuss several more of the employment-related bills that could soon ...
Administrative/Regulatory, Criminal, Government
Law enforcement transparency bill will benefit all
By Susan Leff
SB 345 would require state and local law enforcement agencies to conspicuously post online their current standards, policies,...
Administrative/Regulatory, Constitutional Law, Government, Immigration, Judges and Judiciary, U.S. Supreme Court
Judge's 'heartless' claim is flawed
By John C. Eastman
We’ve known for a long time that some members of the judiciary rule from emotion rather than the law, but in most instances, t...
Did you know that some shows film alternate endings, to keep spoilers from getting out? All this electronic filing has me thin...
Appellate Practice, Civil Litigation, U.S. Supreme Court
The First Monday
By Blaine H. Evanson, Taylor W. King
Justice Ginsburg’s prediction of a “momentous” term may prove to be quite an understatement.
Appellate Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Law Practice, Civil Litigation
‘Realist’ or ‘formalist’: Part 1
By Myron Moskovitz
I’ve long been a fan of Richard Posner, judge (and former chief judge) of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. He...
Constitutional Law, Government, Labor/Employment, U.S. Supreme Court
Time to overrule Abood
By Deborah J. La Fetra
The U.S. Supreme Court described laws that empower unions to coerce funds from non-union members as an “extraordinary state en...
Appellate Practice, Civil Litigation, Securities, U.S. Supreme Court
State court jurisdiction over class actions
By Anna Erickson White, Robert L. Cortez Webb
On the last day of the October 2016 term, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Cyan v. Beaver County Employees Retirem...
Judges and Judiciary, Law Practice
Judging is hard (even for the temporary kind)
By Thomas M. Hall
By putting files into court computers, vast amounts of paper files can be eliminated. But the system in L.A. County is new. Te...
Administrative/Regulatory, Corporate, Government, Labor/Employment
With 2,000 bills, some will affect employers
By Pooja S. Nair
Labor/Employment, Tax
Taxes on severance pay can be unpleasant surprise
By Robert W. Wood
Employers, employees and former employees can all experience unpleasant surprises when it comes to severance. Not everyone has...