Government, Constitutional Law
The long reach of the California Constitutional Convention
By Donald E. Warner
Some decisions of the 1849 California Constitutional Convention still have relevance
Criminal
Unless crime rates drop, the Battle of Gascón will continue
By Adrian Verduzco
District Attorney George Gascón was elected on promises that he would reform and reshape the justice system in Los Angeles, th...
Hours after President Joe Biden “strongly supported” moving Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game from Georgia, the league com...
Tax, Land Use
IRS: opportunity zone sites will not be redrawn due to census
By Phil Jelsma
Developers who were hoping for an expansion of opportunity zones recently got some disappointing news.
Family, Civil Litigation
Competency in the civil litigation arena
By Scott J. Nord
The following question was posed during a roundtable discussion: “What steps can a court take when it determines that a self-r...
U.S. Supreme Court
3 key takeaways from Supreme Court's CFAA decision
By Jonathan H. Blavin, Nicholas D. Fram
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its first substantive interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act on June 3 in Van B...
Labor/Employment
NLRB’s Republican majority leaves contract-bar doctrine intact
By Maria Anastas
Last summer, the National Labor Relations Board asked for public input as to whether it should rescind, modify or simply retai...
Technology, Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Stockpiling of AI-generated legal postures creates an ethical dilemma
By Lance Eliot
Lawyers craft legal arguments for their court cases. AI-based legal reasoning systems will be able to assist in such efforts a...
Technology, Tax
Treasury may publish rules for reporting cryptocurrency transactions
By Robert W. Wood
The Treasury Department is expected to publish new rules to say that businesses that receive crypto worth more than $10,000 wo...
Securities, Government
Congress sets sights on insider trading legislation
By Thomas A. Zaccaro, Nicolas Morgan
The House of Representatives recently passed the Insider Trading Prohibition Act, a bill that, if passed by the Senate, would ...
California Courts of Appeal, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Ex parte communication leads to arbitrator’s disqualification
By Marc D. Alexander
With rare exceptions, such as a need to discuss administrative matters, an ex parte communication between an arbitrator and at...
Law Practice
‘Minor’ traffic collisions in Los Angeles just got a lot more complicated
By Miguel A. Custodio
There once was a time when Angelenos with the misfortune of ending up in a car crash could at the very least count on an offic...
Criminal
Overly restrictive laws will inhibit forensic genetic genealogy
By Jayann Sepich
We need strong governing policies for FGG in order to safeguard the privacy of third-party individuals who are found to have a...
Lately I’ve been thinking about judges searching for anonymity when taking a beating by a “higher” court.
One day, back when I was a budding law professor, my phone rang. “Hi. I’m Don Jelinek. I just arrived in the Bay Area from the...
Civil Litigation, California Courts of Appeal, Appellate Practice
If your 998 offer goes wrong in trial court, all might not be lost
By Charles M. Kagay
That's the lesson of a few recent appellate decisions.
SoCal air district adopts first-of-its-kind ‘indirect source rule’
By Jeffrey Carlin, Gregory S. Berlin
The South Coast Air Quality Management District recently adopted a first-of-its-kind “indirect source rule” that makes owners ...
Environmental & Energy
A Dutch approach to climate change liability in Shell case
By Daniel Quinley
“Going Dutch” now may mean increased corporate liability for climate change impacts after a Dutch court found that Royal Dutch...
A review of two recent books examining the origins of some of today’s firearms.
Labor/Employment
Mental health in the workplace: a proactive, not reactive, model
By Ronald L. Zambrano
Just as law enforcement programs across the country, in response to the countless George Floyds we’ve learned about, are repla...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Covid Columns
History’s greatest shift in access to American justice in jeopardy
By Mary Ellen Waller
Policymakers are preparing to make decisions before the California constitutional deadline of June 15 to pass the 2021-22 Cali...
Environmental & Energy
European rulings show new approach to climate change cases
By Beth Hummer, Davina Pujari
A trifecta of climate change rulings — finding standing in NGOs and individuals against contributors to climate change and gov...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Key considerations for confidential settlement agreements
By Shari L. Klevens, Alanna G. Clair
Although confidential settlements are prohibited in certain cases, there are still types of cases in which confidentiality cla...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
The ethics of ordering videoconference arbitration
By Christopher David Ruiz Cameron
Can an arbitrator compel a virtual hearing over the objection of a resistant party?
Two Army veterans, suffering from physical and mental injuries were discharged with less than honorable characterizations to t...
Soft law is oftentimes the precursor to official and formalized on-the-books hard laws. The range of soft law is somewhat expa...
Criminal
Defendants’ right to confront witnesses could be in jeopardy
By Lara Yeretsian
At stake in a case pending before the U.S. high court is the right of a criminal defendant under the Sixth Amendment “to be co...
U.S. Supreme Court, Appellate Practice
FRAPs do not allow a district court to alter allocation of costs
By Dennis Zell
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 39 “does not permit a district cour...
Labor/Employment, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Wage and hour decision is a victory for the rule of law
By Thomas Kaufman
Wage and hour law often embraces a doctrine of statutory interpretation that puts its thumb on the scale of justice in favor o...
Construction
Construction Corner: ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ edition
By Garret D. Murai
Before the Kardashians, before "Empire," before "Crazy Rich Asians," there was "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" with Robin ...