Alternative Dispute Resolution
Navigating sexual abuse mediations: A strategic guide for lawyers
By Janet Rubin Fields
Successful sexual abuse mediation hinges on choosing a trauma-informed mediator, preparing clients thoughtfully, and balancin...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Attorney-client confidentiality melts away when AI enters the room
By Eydith Kaufman
As attorneys increasingly use AI in mediation, a key federal ruling warns that client use of public AI tools may waive privile...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
How mediators should handle the 'irrational' client
By Robert S. Mann
When an 'irrational' client walks into mediation, the instinct is to push back--but experienced mediators know that managing ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Probate mediations: Balancing law, facts and emotion
By Mary Thornton House
Probate mediation stands apart from typical litigation because deeply personal emotions--grief, family conflict, and perceive...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
What should you tell your mediator before the mediation?
By Philip E. Cook
When a hidden impediment surfaces mid-mediation, negotiations can quickly stall; you can avoid that outcome by confidentially...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
A practical guide for clients and attorneys approaching their first mediation
By Michael B. Murphy
Mediation offers a confidential, collaborative, and flexible way to resolve disputes, where preparation, realistic expectatio...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
AI in ADR: Ethical innovation or disruption?
By Vedica Puri
California's push to rein in AI in arbitration could make AAA's AI Arbitrator off-limits, forcing human arbitrators to keep a ...
Labor/Employment, Construction
When it comes to apprentices you are your brother's keeper
By Garret D. Murai
A California appellate decision confirms that ignorance is no defense for prime contractors when payroll records show no appre...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
When professional speech loses its regulatory guardrails and patient protections weaken
By Erwin Chemerinsky
The Chiles v. Salazar decision, despite its 8-1 margin, threatens to upend countless laws protecting patients by castin...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Ensuring responsible AI use in legal work without stifling innovation
By Arlety C. Bowman, Regan F. Cucinell
AI adoption is already widespread, making bans unrealistic and strategically unsound; instead, leaders must distinguish value-...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Beware attorneys, there be monsters out there
By Ron Mix
From professional acclaim to disbarment, I write from experience about where I went wrong and how others can avoid it.
A fully remote court system is inconsistent with constitutional requirements, would introduce significant practical and admini...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Civil Procedure
Attorney fee motions under increasing judicial scrutiny
By Maurice Mandel II
Plaintiffs routinely seek fee awards after a favorable verdict due to exceptions to the American rule, recent cases clarify wh...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Don't let others chip away at privilege
By Shari L. Klevens, Alanna G. Clair
In today's world, lawyers face commonplace situations that can easily lead to inadvertent--or reckless--disclosure of privileg...
Insurance, Health Care, Pharmaceuticals, Biotech
Modern medicine, old laws and women caught in between
By Elana R. Levine
Outdated federal law has failed to keep pace with modern medicine and underscores the urgent need for reform to ensure women c...
Torts/Personal Injury, Health Care, Pharmaceuticals, Biotech
Why loosening sedative rules in nursing homes would put vulnerable patients at serious risk
By Edward P. Dudensing
Federal investigators found nursing homes are drugging dementia patients and falsifying diagnoses, even as regulators consider...
Technology, Judges and Judiciary
The horror isn't AI, it's what we're doing without it
By Bridget Mary McCormack
While AI drafting legal prose has raised alarm for some, it serves as a tool to assist judges rather than replace them. The tr...
Torts/Personal Injury, Books
Why I gave away everything I know about brain injury litigation
By Taylor Ernst
Lawyers handling traumatic brain injury cases face a critical gap between medical evidence and the human reality of their clie...
Tax, Contracts
Please Mister Postman: What counts as mailed anymore?
By Phyllis W. Cheng
The Beatles crooned about a longed-for letter, but under USPS's new rule, the date it's processed--not dropped off--determines...
Veterans
How Veterans Treatment Courts turn data and care into second chances
By William M. Paparian
The 2026 Veterans Treatment Court Symposium, to be held May 6-8, equips court professionals, treatment providers, and mentors ...
Real Estate/Development, LA Fires
Effective use of writs of mandate in a crisis: Enforcing housing law after the Eaton Fire
By Whitney R. O'Byrne, Kira A. Davis
When the Pasadena/Altadena wildfires left rental housing standing but uninhabitable, the problem was not the law but its enfor...
Torts/Personal Injury
Establishing institutional liability in child sexual abuse cases: Special relationships and negligence
By Neda Saghafi
When institutions fail to protect children, the harm is profound. This article outlines how to establish duty, prove breach an...
California's DFAL: Understanding the new regulatory framework for digital asset businesses
By Avy Mallik
California's Digital Financial Assets Law establishes a comprehensive licensing and oversight regime for digital asset busines...
The Los Angeles Superior Court is cautiously evaluating AI as a limited support tool to manage rising caseloads, not as a subs...
Predicting the future of futures prediction markets
By I. Nelson Rose
Futures prediction markets raise questions about legality, insider trading, and unpaid bets, with the Supreme Court poised to ...
Recovering beneficiary fees in trust disputes under Smith v. Szeyller
By Joshua Taylor
In trust disputes, it is not uncommon for one beneficiary to take the lead in litigation while others decline to participate--...
Wills, Estates & Trusts, Probate
No-contest clauses revisited: Enforceability, trust amendments and trustee defense obligations
By Stefan O'Grady
California's post-2010 no-contest framework narrows enforceability while heightening the "probable cause" threshold, reshaping...
Claws, paws and laws: Trademark protection for animal names, images and likenesses
By Lauren E. Hansson, Max A. Kirkham
Human performers rely on privacy and publicity rights to control their brand. But when the performer is an animal, those doctr...
The delicate balance of generative AI with the duty of confidentiality
By Teresa Mayer
As AI tools become increasingly integrated into litigation, recent cases like Heppner, Warner, and Morgan highlight the evolvi...
Technology, Family
I, Attorney - What family law clients need to know about the risks of consulting AI chatbots during divorce
By Debra R. Schoenberg
As family law attorneys, it's crucial to help our clients understand that AI is no substitute for an experienced lawyer--and t...