California Supreme Court, Civil Procedure
Batten down the hatches, a new wave of UCL claims may be on the horizon
By Ryan D. Ball, Matthew T. Billeci
In the wake of California Medical, organizations that routinely devote resources to fighting unfair business practices ...
Technology
Artificial intelligence monsters move from film to reality
By Anita Taff-Rice
AI drone reportedly kills its human controller in war simulation and becomes favorite weapon of cyber criminals.
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, State Bar & Bar Associations
New CRPC Rule 8.3 that mandates we report each other raises the specter of Soviet Big Brother tactics
By Panda L. Kroll
To the extent that new Rule 8.3 might be a reaction to these recent events, the Thomas Girardi scandal was not caused by a rel...
Family
Celebrating over 10 years of introducing culture to family law practice
By Abbas Hadjian
The program started as a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) to enforce Iranian premarital and marital agreements in California d...
Constitutional Law, Land Use, U.S. Supreme Court
Who benefits from delay?
By Michael M. Berger
We are seeing a growing number of land use cases that seem to fall under this rubric. And I wonder why that should be so.
Family
A girl and her father: the importance of understanding culture in family practice
By Diana L. Martinez
With humility and curiosity, we ask better questions to guide clients towards solutions that make sense for them. In a world w...
Establishing Cultural Competency is necessary for any judicial officer presiding over family law matters to protect against we...
In Catrina E. White v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2023-77 (June 21, 2023), Tax Court Judge Paris looks at when unpaid ren...
We are more biased than we realize and these blind spots can make us contribute to injustices without having any intention of ...
Cultural Competency in Family Law Practice (CCFLP) has its genesis in a seed planted by Fred Glassman fifteen years ago. As th...
Administrative/Regulatory, Real Estate/Development
The shoot first and ask questions later approach to California’s Builder’s Remedy Law
By Jeffrey J. Crosswhite
The lack of legal support and certainty around the effect of the Builder’s Remedy, combined with the likelihood that cities wi...
Criminal, Government
Call it sexual abuse or rape, either way it was an ignominious use of power
By John H. Minan
A Rule 59 motion for a new trial in Carroll II v. Trump was recently denied. In rejecting the motion, Judge Kaplan expl...
Environmental & Energy, Land Use, Native Americans
Frankly my dear, I don’t want a dam (on the Klamath)
By Alexander Rufus-Isaacs
America’s long love affair with dams has left us with around 44,000 dams over 15 feet in height, and a great deal more under t...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Sharing is caring – the legal ethics of office sharing
By Ryan Little
Sharing office spaces can be beneficial, but it demands a commitment to professionalism and confidentiality.
Government
John Eastman went to the guillotine for Trump. His law license may be next
By A. Marco Turk
The bar is arguing that Eastman conspired with Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results with the purpose of ...
Judges and Judiciary
Bryan Borys knows how to research, but he's no data geek
By Lawrence P. Riff
In 2023 the world is firmly in the era of “big data” and the LASC is no exception. Our court is awash in vast oceans of data. ...
Law Practice
Is a law office led by women different from one led by men?
By Amy Oppenheimer, Gorev Ahuja
Decision-making styles have various pluses and minuses. While not necessarily gender-linked, in general, transparency is alway...
Administrative/Regulatory, Technology
FTC investigation of ChatGPT a win for consumers
By Sabita J. Soneji
By any measure, this is an incredibly swift response by the agency to new technology. Although AI remains at nascent stages, t...
We invite the California Legislature to revisit Penal Code 261.5 in compliance with caljic 10.65, and Anderson, and to make th...
Administrative/Regulatory, Technology
White House announces commitments by leading companies to responsible development of AI technology
By Evan Kratzer, Wesley Sze
In response to the public’s concerns, the White House announced on Friday that several major technology companies have committ...
Best Practice for using AI in your practice, Vol. 1.
Paul Kiesel and Jeffrey Koncius of Kiesel Law LLP discover that generative artificial intelligence responds better to polite r...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, California Supreme Court
PAGA: Did Adolph round the bend on Viking River? Maybe not
By Mark D. Kemple
The reasoning employed in Adolph, and the potential outcomes it allows, may run afoul of higher federal law, namely the...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Judges and Judiciary, U.S. Supreme Court
What does “good behavior” mean when you have the appointment of a lifetime?
By Barbara E. Cowan
Although there is a procedure to make a complaint about federal court judges, there is no mechanism to make a complaint about ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, U.S. Supreme Court
Compelling employees to arbitration suddenly has less of an upside
By Chandra S. Andrade
Employers will not be able to escape PAGA liability simply by resolving individual Labor Code violations in arbitration. Thus,...
California uses a comparative analysis to see if you have closer connections to another state. Some people who leave have unre...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Constitutional Law
Older workers may get a broad arbitration carve-out
By Barry M. Appell
There is reason to believe that additional arbitration carve-outs – for race, religion, disability and other forms of harassme...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, California Supreme Court
Legal implications of the Supreme Court's ruling in Adolph v. Uber
By Sue M. Bendavid, Tal Burnovski Yeyni
Employers should review and consider modifying their arbitration agreements to conform to the Adolph decision. They sho...
Civil Rights, Health Care & Hospital Law
Death of Black mother at Cedars-Sinai matches national trend
By K. Chike Odiwe
That Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is facing a federal civil rights probe is no surprise. The hospital, and many others across t...
An item’s price tag is clearly an out-of-court statement. But must it be true in order to be relevant proof of the item’s valu...
Land Use
Department of Water Resources issues groundwater plan determinations
By Clark Morrison, Veena P. Beglinger
Starting in March of this year, DWR began releasing findings regarding the adequacy of critically overdraft basins’ GSPs and a...