As the holiday season brings about exponential growth in ex partes seeking holiday visitation orders, the dawning of the new y...
Technology, Intellectual Property
Welcome the metaverse: avatars, tattoos and copyright law
By Victoria Burke
The metaverse brings a universe of new intellectual property questions: For example, what about the use of tattoos on avatars?...
Law Practice, Civil Litigation
Evading service like the plague: Sexual abuse survivors face hurdles serving the Holy See
By Andrew Brendon Ojeda
Practitioners representing survivors of sexual abuse sue the State of the Vatican City (i.e., Holy See) because they argue tha...
Judges and Judiciary
A voir dire questionnaire to shorten jury trials
By Richard L. Fruin
Using a questionnaire, I am usually successful in swearing in the jury and the alternates on the first day of trial. Sometimes...
2022 marks the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, a groundbreaking federal law that has significantly expanded educational opportun...
Probate, Civil Litigation, California Courts of Appeal
Tangled rules for modification of revocable trusts
By Mark J. Phillips, Jake V. Phillips
Last year an appellate court clarified some 30 years of conflicting caselaw on the procedure for amending trust documents, but...
While the United States performs strongly in certain areas, it falls behind in the civil justice and criminal justice categories.
Law Practice, Alternative Dispute Resolution
How mediators can assist attorneys with difficult clients
By David E. Hunter
Attorneys have to have many difficult conversations with clients; sometimes it can be tough to get a client to moderate their ...
Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court
Breadcrumbs or apple seeds?
By Brian M. Hoffstadt
Some (but not all) judges on occasion seem to place language in their opinions that can serve as breadcrumbs (because the lang...
Although even judges are only slightly better than chance at calling a lie, both lawyers and judges can improve their ability ...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Covid Court Ops, Covid Columns
COVID-19: Will things ever return to ‘normal’ in California courts?
By Reza Torkzadeh, Allen P. Wilkinson
Last week, the Central District of California announced the suspension of civil and criminal jury trials.
Sometimes, mediation and/or arbitration simply will not do; you have to get ready for trial.
Letters, Judges and Judiciary
In judicial elections, state law favors one profession
By David D. Diamond
The reason is simple. Ballot designations.
Torts/Personal Injury, Civil Litigation, California Courts of Appeal
Courts recognize broad protections for elder or dependent adult financial abuse
By Andrew R. Verriere
The 4th District Court of Appeal recently recognized that the breadth of the Elder and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act an...
Government, Constitutional Law
Of filibusters and festive bachelors: The dark purpose of the Senate’s minority rule
By Neil Auwarter
The U.S. Senate’s filibuster rule looms large, threatening to stymie both the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and President Joe B...
Criminal
Why plaintiffs’ lawyers should be worried about DUI, DWI accidents
By Justin H. King
The number of Californians who drive under the influence of drugs or while intoxicated remains high — even amid a global pande...
Law Practice
Early evaluation can help quickly resolve your fee disputes
By Ken Moscaret
In my experience, few large multimillion-dollar fee disputes ever reach trial or arbitration hearing. They settle, like the va...
2021 in Review: Cases Involving Lawyers
By Alex A. Graft, Kenneth C. Feldman
In these polarizing times, civility is too often lacking -- and in 2021, California appellate courts made clear they were not ...
Military Law, Criminal
Incarcerated veterans now permitted to request lower sentences
By Eileen C. Moore
What appellate courts have said about Penal Code Section 1170.91
Law Practice, Appellate Practice
The Collateral Order Doctrine
By Gary A. Watt, Rosanna W. Gan
In California, the one final judgment rule is primary. However, there are exceptions -- for example, if an order is “collatera...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Set new habits in 2022
By Shari L. Klevens, Alanna G. Clair
A few “resolutions” for attorneys aimed at fixing five bad habits that are all too common and that can create unnecessary risk...
U.S. Supreme Court, Health Care & Hospital Law
High court should block vaccine mandates pending full judicial review
By Michael A. Columbo
The U.S. Supreme Court should hold that the challenges to the Biden administration’s unconstitutional, extra-statutory, and ar...
Law Practice, Entertainment & Sports, Books
Stream it Tonight! The Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 leaps from the history books into your living room!
By Michael Asimow, Paul Bergman
For tonight’s movie, we’re suggesting you stream “Inherit the Wind,” the classic 1960 film about the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial.
Civil Litigation, Bankruptcy
Court unravels Purdue bankruptcy plan protecting Sacklers
By David S. Kupetz, Victor A. Sahn
In a recent appellate decision vacating Purdue Pharma’s confirmed chapter 11 bankruptcy plan of reorganization, the U.S. Distr...
Construction, Civil Litigation, California Courts of Appeal
Lien, lien, lien on me, and don't forget your attorney fees
By Garret D. Murai
Unlike a deed of trust, a mechanics lien is an involuntary lien against real property. Any by “involuntary.” I mean you have n...
Torts/Personal Injury, Law Practice
California gets new laws in 2022 that will affect personal injury cases
By Logan Quirk
Accidental injury is America’s number three cause of death — you could call it our country’s other, less-talked-about pandemic...
Judges and Judiciary, Appellate Practice
The 2021 Appellate Year in Review
By Benjamin G. Shatz
Now’s the time for all those year-end retrospectives, so why not an appellatey annual review?
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary
My New Year’s Resolutions for 2022
By Arthur Gilbert
Will try to be optimistic about the future. Sorry, I can only try. But I can be certain about a resolution that is an acknowle...
California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal, Appellate Practice
The 3rd District's delay fiasco and another lesson learned
By Jon B. Eisenberg
Ongoing delays in the Court of Appeal have exposed weak links in the protections that were devised in response to a California...
Most lawyers think you win appeals with erudite dissertations on the law. Not me. The law matters, but the facts matter more.