Transportation, Government, Administrative/Regulatory
Local drone law preempted in first-of-its-kind ruling
By Jared Greenberg
A federal judge recently held that portions of the city of Newton, Massachusetts's ordinance attempting to regulate unmanned a...
Civil Litigation, Law Practice
Attacks on litigation funding are attacks on litigation itself
By David M. Gallagher
It’s no accident that the leading advocates of increasing barriers to litigation are representatives of industries whose busin...
Civil Litigation, Corporate, Contracts
Drafting mandatory forum selection clauses
By Theresa M. Troupson
Contracting parties might agree to a forum selection clause for any number of reasons: to ensure favorable legal precedent, to...
Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal, Appellate Practice
Hearsay and expert witnesses: relying or relating?
By Gary A. Watt
Can an expert rely on hearsay case-specific facts for purposes of reaching an opinion as long as the expert does not relate th...
U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property, Corporate
Patent venue after TC Heartland
By Elise Edlin
While some courts held that physical presence in the district is not required, others determined that it is. The Federal Circu...
U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Labor/Employment, Corporate, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Arguments note benefits of bilateral arbitration
By Wendy Mcguire Coats, Megan E. Walker
At oral argument on Monday, counsel for the respondent employees confirmed that if the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the cases b...
Letters, State Bar & Bar Associations
How about a qualified license to practice law?
By Mitchell Keiter
Applicants scoring at a specified intermediate level should receive a qualified law license to represent underserved clients.
Civil Litigation, Administrative/Regulatory, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Sugar beverage ruling may provide defense in Proposition 65 cases
By Steven L. Feldman, Steven L. Crane
The 9th Circuit's ruling in the recent case challenging San Francisco's sugar-sweetened beverages ordinance could provide a de...
Labor/Employment, Government, Administrative/Regulatory
Employment-related bills passed this legislative session
By Pooja S. Nair
In the final installment of this two-part series, I will discuss several more of the employment-related bills that could soon ...
Government, Criminal, Administrative/Regulatory
Law enforcement transparency bill will benefit all
By Susan Leff
SB 345 would require state and local law enforcement agencies to conspicuously post online their current standards, policies,...
U.S. Supreme Court, Judges and Judiciary, Immigration, Government, Constitutional Law, Administrative/Regulatory
Judge's 'heartless' claim is flawed
By John C. Eastman
We’ve known for a long time that some members of the judiciary rule from emotion rather than the law, but in most instances, t...
Did you know that some shows film alternate endings, to keep spoilers from getting out? All this electronic filing has me thin...
U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Appellate Practice
The First Monday
By Blaine H. Evanson, Taylor W. King
Justice Ginsburg’s prediction of a “momentous” term may prove to be quite an understatement.
Civil Litigation, Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, Appellate Practice
‘Realist’ or ‘formalist’: Part 1
By Myron Moskovitz
I’ve long been a fan of Richard Posner, judge (and former chief judge) of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. He...
U.S. Supreme Court, Labor/Employment, Government, Constitutional Law
Time to overrule Abood
By Deborah J. La Fetra
The U.S. Supreme Court described laws that empower unions to coerce funds from non-union members as an “extraordinary state en...
U.S. Supreme Court, Securities, Civil Litigation, Appellate Practice
State court jurisdiction over class actions
By Anna Erickson White, Robert L. Cortez Webb
On the last day of the October 2016 term, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Cyan v. Beaver County Employees Retirem...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary
Judging is hard (even for the temporary kind)
By Thomas M. Hall
By putting files into court computers, vast amounts of paper files can be eliminated. But the system in L.A. County is new. Te...
Labor/Employment, Government, Corporate, Administrative/Regulatory
With 2,000 bills, some will affect employers
By Pooja S. Nair
Tax, Labor/Employment
Taxes on severance pay can be unpleasant surprise
By Robert W. Wood
Employers, employees and former employees can all experience unpleasant surprises when it comes to severance. Not everyone has...
U.S. Supreme Court, International Law, Corporate
Alien Tort Statute should preclude corporate liability
By Josh McDaniel
On Oct. 11, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in a case which asks whether corporations, as opposed to natural persons...
There is a cost to be paid for the myriad benefits society derives from the use of algorithms. An occasional “date from hell,”...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Fairness dictates a chance to appeal after plea
By Jeffrey L. Bornstein, Christopher D. Hu
Class v. United States, one of two criminal cases set to be argued in the first week of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new term begi...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Another take on Cake at the US high court
By Julie A. Werner-Simon
So here’s where we are in Masterpiece Cakeshop: The lineup of eight of the justices is pretty clear, 4-to-4.
Civil Litigation, Law Practice, Appellate Practice
Some rulings show the lighter side of the law
By Gary A. Watt
Much of our lives as litigators is lived in a stressful place somewhere between dread and desire regarding client vindication....
Civil Litigation, Law Practice, California Supreme Court
Testing extension statutes in the age of PACER
By Charles A. Bird
Are they needed after the advent of PACER and electronic service? Many would argue they are not. But if they are obsolete, the...
Health Care, Pharmaceuticals, Biotech, Corporate, Constitutional Law, Administrative/Regulatory, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Sugar-sweetened drinks & the First Amendment
By Amy P. Lally
From coast to coast, cities have responded to products raising public health concerns with laws that are intended to compel co...
Tax, Government, Corporate
A closer look at the new Republican tax framework
By Phil Jelsma
Who will benefit from the Trump administration and congressional Republicans’ recently proposed overhaul of the tax code? That...
Government, California Supreme Court, Administrative/Regulatory
Next steps for agencies after public-private email decision
By Derek P. Cole, Dennis M. Cota
A city manager’s personal cellphone buzzes in the early morning hours with notice of a string of urgent texts advising about t...
The Fair Punishment Project, a group affiliated with HLS, supposedly reviewed over 150 court decisions from 2010 to 2015 invol...
Law Practice, California Supreme Court, State Bar & Bar Associations, Antitrust & Trade Reg.
State Bar on antitrust: Close but no cigar
By Robert C. Fellmeth
The California Supreme Court just issued an extraordinary en banc “Administrative Order” imposing a new “State Bar Antitrust P...