Technology, Law Practice
Legal engineers spurring the use of high-tech and AI in the law
By Lance Eliot
There is an ongoing hiring spree to snag up legal engineers. This is a relatively new role in the legal profession. The idea i...
International Law, Intellectual Property, Civil Litigation
Un-conventional?: Email service on foreign trade secret defendants
By John R. Lanham, Ken Kuwayti
Enforcing trade secret laws against international misappropriators is becoming more and more important, as trade secrets incre...
Technology, Intellectual Property
The rise of trade secrets as primary protection for technological innovation
By Adam Alper, Mike De Vries
Trade secret claims, often an afterthought for some IP litigators and their clients, have come to the forefront of IP litigati...
Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports
Bolsinger struck out once against the Astros in California: Will he again in Texas?
By Conor Tucker
The Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal is well-documented, and its impact on Major League Baseball is just beginning to be ...
Intellectual Property, Civil Litigation
Timing is everything: Pre-discovery identification of trade secrets in California state and federal district courts
By Jennifer Seraphine
Timing can be crucial when it comes to discovery in trade secrets cases. At one end of the spectrum, discovery might be permit...
Letters, Legal Education
Let’s rethink who is responsible for student debt
By Daniel L. Casas
In his Sept. 23 column, American Bar Association President Reginald Turner urges Congress to act to relieve the current studen...
Criminal, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Jails are full, courtrooms are empty in San Francisco
By Mano Raju
You’ve been arrested and charged with a crime. You’ve been denied pretrial release, and you don’t have the money for bail. So ...
Government, Civil Litigation, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
A disappointing opinion
By Timothy D. Reuben
Last month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Central District Judge David O. Carter’s sweeping mandatory injunct...
Insurance, Civil Litigation, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Rulings affirm no coverage for COVID-related business interruption claims
By Paul S. White, Siobhán A. Breen
Three recent 9th Circuit rulings held that business income and extra expense losses incurred following business closures order...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Law Practice
Could law firms run by VC’s and big corps become reality?
By Bradley Wallace
In recent years, the decades-long rule barring nonlawyers from having an ownership stake in law firms has been reversed in Ari...
Criminal, Civil Rights
Racism baked into California’s drug prohibition laws
By Sarah Brady Siff
There are many ways to answer the question of whether the drug wars are racist, and all of them are “yes.” In California, spec...
Construction, Civil Litigation
Ruling weighs in on harsh, unjust, draconian and enforceable remedy
By Garret D. Murai
A recent appellate opinion addresses the statute of limitations on bringing an action under Business and Professions Code Sect...
I am optimistic that Supreme Court justices who read this column will take my advice and write shorter opinions.
Torts/Personal Injury
Tricks and treats in Halloween precedent
By Benjamin G. Shatz
With everyone sick of the pandemic, neighborhood boredom seems to have prompted early Halloween decorations. Following suit, l...
About six years ago, I retired from law professing — and launched my new law firm. I gathered into my fold several former app...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
California lawyers have a duty to blow the whistle
By Arash Homampour
Lawyers, like everyone else, are capable of doing bad things. This is especially true when they are funding grotesque lifestyl...
What state taxes apply if you are stuck in California or another state during the pandemic? Do you pay taxes where you are she...
Military Law, Civil Rights
Hispanic Heritage Month: Hispanic/Latino veterans’ long fight for access to the American Dream
By Eileen C. Moore
Mexican-Americans faced horrifying discrimination in this country. In her book “All For One & One For All,” author Amy Wat...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
OT’21: Previewing the Supreme Court’s blockbuster docket
By James Azadian
All nine justices return to the bench this week — the First Monday of October — when the U.S. Supreme Court gavels-in its new ...
Labor/Employment, Administrative/Regulatory
Federal response to climate change: Turn the heat up on employers
By Colin Calvert, Sarah G. Bennett
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the White House conveyed, in an announcement on Sept. 20, that OSHA will...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Access denied: California’s watering down of the legal profession
By Jason E. Fellner
Last month, the California State Bar published its “California Paraprofessional Program Working Group Report and Recommendatio...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Hearsay or ixnay? The limited utility of hearsay objections in arbitration
By Christopher David Ruiz Cameron
The reason for the hearsay rule is simple enough to grasp: Hearsay evidence tends to be unreliable, because it’s not subject t...
Securities, Civil Litigation, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
9th Circuit approves securities claims in direct listing offerings
By Jared L. Kopel
In a landmark ruling, a divided court gave the green light for securities actions against companies that went public through d...
Over the past year, California courts have continued to reject PAGA waivers. But what is so unique about the nature of PAGA la...
Law Practice
What a 100% remote trial is really like: A court reporter's view
By Early Langley
A court reporter’s gavel-to-gavel account of a four-month Zoom trial during COVID
Lines must drawn: public health vs privacy
By Anita Taff-Rice
Last year, the federal government contracted with a wastewater analytics company for a nationwide study of wastewater in the U...
Real Estate/Development, Land Use
Major legislation to spur modest residential projects
By Linda Klein, Amy Foo
A few weeks ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two housing bills that make small, infill housing projects easier in California: Sen...
Torts/Personal Injury, Civil Litigation
Overcoming ‘act of God’ defenses in dangerous condition cases
By Jonathan Davidi, Robert Glassman
What happens when your adversary blames a higher power who is incapable of being deposed or responding to discovery?
Law Practice, Alternative Dispute Resolution
'My Cousin Vinny' in Arbitration? (Part I: pre-hearing)
By Fred Bennett
As we all know, the enduring appeal of watching Vinny trying to navigate his way around a courtroom in a murder trial is the h...
Corporate, Civil Litigation, California Courts of Appeal
Guidance for boardroom disputes in the courtroom
By Bernard M. Resser, Vera Serova
A recent appellate court opinion that is now certified for publication resolves some open questions about how membership inte...