A bit of 'theatrical flair' permeates the courtroom of Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner John T. Rafferty, who us...
SACRAMENTO - A measure that would grant California 50 new judges next year is expected to clear the Legislature by today witho...
Constitutional Law
Court to Hear City's Appeal of Payment to Closed Adult Club
By Itir Yakarn
The California Supreme Court unanimously agreed Wednesday to decide whether cities can be held liable for damages when they ma...
Judges and Judiciary
Justices Who Decide Marriage Rights Need Help From the Poets
By Eric Berkowitzn
FORUM COLUMN - At the recent oral argument in the California Court of Appeal in a group of consolidated cases on the issue of ...
Ann Althouse's scatter-gun attack on Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's historic decision finding the NSA warrantless surveillance prog...
Judges and Judiciary
Ruling Ends Employment Law Split --Appeal Court Says State Forbids All Noncompete Pacts-- 9th Circuit Is Wrong
By Laura Ernden
A state appellate court on Wednesday reaffirmed that noncompete agreements have no place in California employment contracts. ...
FORUM COLUMN - A review of their pronouncements from the bench thus far reveals that the judicial philosophies of Chief Justic...
SACRAMENTO - After soliciting consumer groups to help him lobby legislators, Attorney General Bill Lockyer succeeded in revivi...
Daniel Mummery says that many mornings his 8-year-old son will snatch the attorney's BlackBerry off the night stand and threat...
Environmental
Environmental Offsets Are a Big Picture Water Quality Solution
By David Minkown
FOCUS COLUMN - Last fall, the California Water Resources Control Board adopted a resolution that remanded to the San Francisco...
SAN FRANCISCO - If you have a buried memory of sexual abuse at the hands of a clergyman - a memory that resurfaces years or ev...
Litigation
Deadline to Get in on Vioxx Mass Tort Action Looms in 30 States
By David Houstonn
LOS ANGELES - Sept. 30 will mark two years since Merck & Co. withdrew Vioxx from the market after a study showed the block...
Judicial Profile
Easy Rider Keeps Things Cool So Justice Can Be Served
By Donna Dominon
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - Maybe it's the hundreds of miles he logs cycling around Lake Tahoe every week that makes El Dorado County S...
SAN FRANCISCO - Chief Justice Ronald M. George has appointed Judge Nancy Wieben Stock, the presiding judge of the Orange Count...
SANTA ANA - A federal judge is expected to decide soon whether a group of Buddhists can resume worshiping at a former office b...
Public Interest
Statistics Don't Measure the Failures of Welfare Reform
By Eric Berkowitzn
FORUM COLUMN - The welfare reform law, signed into effect 10 years ago by President Clinton, went too far in one direction and...
Litigation
Defendants Get an Edge in Pending Unfair Competition Cases
By David Minkown
FOCUS COLUMN - In two unanimous decisions, Californians for Disability Rights v. Mervyn's, 39 Cal.4th 223, and Branick v. Dow...
Criminal
Judge Scolds Prosecutor for Opening Statement in Aryan Penalty Case
By Jim Adamekn
SANTA ANA - Federal prosecutors have given the reputed kingpin of the powerful Aryan Brotherhood prison gang what defense atto...
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco's Fringe Festival - a yearly showcase of experimental, low-budget plays by local writers - has l...
Judges and Judiciary
Bill Would OK Transfer of Seismically Poor Courthouses
By Amy Yarbroughn
SAN FRANCISCO - In the four years since legislation passed allowing the state to inherit county court facilities, the process ...
Entertainment & Sports
Prosecutor Wants Defendant's Mom to Close MySpace Page
By Dennis Opatrnyn
SAN FRANCISCO - An Alameda County prosecutor has accused a murder defendant's mother of inappropriately posting court document...
LOS ANGELES - Trial began Tuesday for a Riverside man who sued police over his wrongful conviction on rape and robbery charges...
Environmental
Ficus Fight Highlights Role Activists Can Play in Economic Development
By Gabe Friedmann
LOS ANGELES - For most people in Southern California, the city of Commerce is just an exit off Interstate 5, home to a factory...
Public Interest
Welfare to Work Is a Success, but Not a Panacea for Poverty's Root Causes
By Eric Berkowitzn
FORUM COLUMN - Ten years ago, President Bill Clinton signed legislation overhauling the nation's welfare system. ...
Judges and Judiciary
Judicial Council Selects Recipients for State Distinguished Service Awards
By Michelle Garcia
The Judicial Council of California will honor three court leaders and a public affairs broadcaster at its Fall Leadership Conf...
SAN FRANCISCO - Whenever Cuban musicians play jazz in San Francisco, chances are good Bill Martinez is in the audience. ...
Spousal support, as it is now referred to, is intended to be a stream of payments from one spouse to the other to enable the o...
Healthcare/Hospital Law
Male Inmates Receive Even Less Dignity Than Female Felons
By David Minkown
Letter to the Editor - I agree that inmates in California's jails and prisons should be treated with more bodily dignity. ...
LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles attorney previously charged with attempting to bribe the family of a 7-year-old sexual assault vic...
Public Interest
Lawyers Perform a Mitzvah, Helping Holocaust Survivors Submit Claims
By David Minkown
I'm a retired lawyer who decided in June to volunteer at the Bet Tzedek Legal Aid office in Los Angeles. I called Robin Sommer...