Letters
A mediator who understands the tax consequences of confidentiality clauses
By Bruce M. Brusavich
Law Practice, Government
An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us
By James J. Brosnahan
Attorney general of Texas has threatened the law firm of Sidley and Austin with criminal prosecution for paying expenses assoc...
Family, Civil Litigation
Family law, hearsay, and the boundaries of “all relevant evidence”
By Dean Hansell, Fielder Jewett
Pinpointing the date of separation is a highly fact-based process that requires a court to consider the parties’ expressed int...
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
Some clients you might want to pass on
By Barry M. Wolf
When a litigant who has lost in the trial court tells you that a win on appeal is certain, run away. If the litigant tells you...
Constitutional Law
How repeal of Roe v. Wade could lead to more domestic violence cases
By Alphonse Provinziano
Abusers have been known to try to interfere with their victims’ use of contraception, access to information, or have used coer...
Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Supreme Court is positioned to consider the future of the First Amendment online
By Adam S. Sieff, Robert Corn-Revere
Tax, Litigation & Arbitration
Tax consequences of confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in personal injury cases in the mediation context: a practicum
By David I. Brown
Confidentiality provisions are increasingly common in personal injury cases. Plaintiffs’ lawyers must take precautions to prot...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Legal Education
The California State Bar paraprofessional program
By Rachael C. Kogen
According to the State Bar website, "paraprofessionals would handle routine matters in specified practice areas, intended to s...
Environmental & Energy, Ediscovery
Boots on the ground: Are environmental investigations privileged?
By Murray M. Sinclair, Bart Sokolow
Keep in mind that the operative issue is protection of the public health and safety from unknown contaminant exposure – not pr...
Justice Alito could have argued that protecting fetal life is a compelling governmental interest that justifies banning aborti...
Torts/Personal Injury, Labor/Employment
Get your motions for preliminary approval of wage and hour class action settlements approved the first time
By Allison S. Wallin, Eric B. Kingsley
The LA Superior Court is rolling out a new product – the Model Class Action Agreement – that standardizes the format of clas...
Happily, an “irrevocable” trust can be revoked, and there are ways to make it responsive when parents change their minds in th...
Labor/Employment
PAGA representative standing after Viking River Cruises
By Steven H. Kruis
By ruling in favor of Viking, the Court held that employers may enforce arbitration agreements in California to the extent the...
In September 2019 - about the same time that the Covid epidemic began in China, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publishe...
Of course, just as Democrats can pass a national law protecting abortion rights, so when there is a Republican President and a...
Intellectual Property
Combining design patent and trade dress for optimal IP protection
By Dariush Adli
At first blush, a combination of design patent and trademark might appear implausible and counter intuitive as these IP rights...
Labor/Employment, Civil Litigation
The Estrada decision on review: What to do with “unmanageable” PAGA claims?
By Ashleigh A. Musser
In enacting legislation like PAGA, the legislature can override courts’ inherent authority to manage their dockets and require...
Environmental & Energy, California Courts of Appeal
Meritless climate change cases continue to work their way through California courts
By Lauren Sheets Jarrell
Litigation is not a solution to address the broadest public policy challenges, and in the end, it is the lawyers who end up wi...
U.S. Supreme Court, Environmental & Energy
Supreme Court strips EPA of key weapon to combat climate change
By Tina Van Bockern
After West Virginia v. EPA, the Biden Administration’s plans to tackle the climate crisis will likely (and necessarily) extend...
U.S. Supreme Court, Labor/Employment, Administrative/Regulatory
U.S. Supreme Court denies petition for certiorari in Calif. Trucking Assoc. V. Bonta
By Miles L. Kavaller
None of the eight justices voted to grant the petition despite the conflict between the 9th and 1st Circuits decisions on the ...
Letters
The way we talk about IVF needs to reflect the emotional rollercoaster and potentially life-bringing miracle that it is.
By Mariana A. McConnell
Entertainment & Sports
Stream it Tonight! On the Basis of Sex (2018)
By Michael Asimow, Paul Bergman
The film opens with the resounding strains of “Ten Thousand Men of Harvard.” This is highly ironic as there were only nine wom...
Ediscovery
There is no ‘I’ in team: electronic discovery and professional sports
By Daniel B. Garrie, Gail A. Andler
Unlike a sports agent who preserves communications with and about a specific client, leagues face countless limitations and re...
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
Key features of the common interest and joint defense privileges
By Alanna G. Clair, Shari L. Klevens
In California, for example, common interest or joint defense is a “nonwaiver doctrine,” rather than a separate privilege.
Law Practice, Intellectual Property, Contracts
Be thorough and creative in selecting experts in trademark cases
By Michael K. Friedland
U.S. Supreme Court, Environmental & Energy, Constitutional Law
Deconstructing the Supreme Court’s climate change
By Richard M. Frank
U.S. Supreme Court, Government
State legislatures could end up with electoral process control
By John H. Minan
The case tests the power of state legislatures to set the rules for federal elections without state court oversight. It has th...
Is it worth fighting over employment case settlement agreement wording? You bet. The language of the settlement agreement does...