U.S. Supreme Court, International Law
Eurail suit first of high court term
By Chimene Keitner
In the first U.S. Supreme Court case of the term, the court will consider the commercial activity exception to the Foreign Sov...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
When your co-counsel is disbarred
By David M. Majchrzak, Heather L. Rosing
What are the ethical considerations in situations when your co-counsel is either suspended or disbarred? ...
This term, the Supreme Court will consider two significant labor law policy issues with broad ramifications. ...
Transportation, Administrative/Regulatory
Drone on in California, at least for now
By Douglas E. Mirell
If the Legislature had its way, California would have the greatest protection against conduct by drone operators that endanger...
Civil Litigation, Letters, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Keep mediation fully confidential
By Fern Topas Salka
Another point of view on the California Law Revision Commission's proposal to limit confidentiality in mediation in the event ...
Intellectual Property, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Batmobile captures copyright protection
By Ashley R. Yeargan, Edward A. Klein
A recent 9th Circuit ruling should help creators of entertainment properties secure copyright protection in their characters. ...
Labor/Employment
When courts fail to explain denial of class certification
By Gene F. Williams
Not all denials of class certification are treated equally, as one defendant in recently learned. ...
The California Supreme Court will soon wrestle with the question of whetherthe Indian Child Welfare Act applies to children pr...
Real Estate/Development, Government, Administrative/Regulatory
A true 'redevelopment replacement'
By Seth Merewitz, Sigrid Asmundson
Since the demise of redevelopment in 2012 and the assurance of a "replacement" by Gov. Brown, many bills have attempted to cre...
Admission. For decades, I have been violating federal copyright law.
In the coming days, the state Supreme Court will be deciding whether to approve the recommendation of the State Bar to reduce ...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Law Practice
Is more CLE the medicine we need?
By Diane L. Karpman
As they did in 2013, the State Bar of California again wants to increase the MCLE requirement. ...
Civil Litigation, Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Alternative Dispute Resolution
New CLRC rules unfairly criticized
By Elizabeth A. Moreno, Larry Doyle
In August, the CLRC voted to draft legislation preventing attorneys from using California's mediation confidentiality laws to...
Civil Litigation, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Ethics and e-discovery
By A. Marco Turk
The State Bar's Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct recently issued Opinion No. 2015-193, defining a...
Constitutional Law
They have fought American wars, pledged allegiance to the American flag, and played American football, yet they are still not ...
Justice Stephen Breyer's new book, "The Court and the World" is simultaneously enlightening and frustrating. ...
Securities, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Ruling broadens Dodd-Frank protections, creates split
By Daniel A. Saunders
This month the 2nd Circuit held that Dodd-Frank provides a private cause of action to employees who suffer retaliation after r...
Administrative/Regulatory
CFAA reform is badly needed
By Cindy A. Cohn, Jamie Lee Williams
Technology lawyers understand that our world is now interconnected, with Americans using other people's computers as much as t...
Labor/Employment, Insurance
Policies actually might cover wage and hour lawsuit
By Shaun H. Crosner
Wage and hour class actions can be costly to defend and can subject employers to substantial exposure in the form of settlemen...
Environmental & Energy, California Supreme Court
CEQA and climate change: in the Supreme Court's crosshairs
By Richard M. Frank
A review of cases concerning the California Environmental Quality Act currently on the Supreme Court docket.
Civil Litigation, Letters, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Limiting confidentiality in mediation is a slippery slope
By A. Marco Turk
A Sept. 24 a piece impliedly refuted my arguments opposing the California Law Revision Commission's current study, K-402. ...
Civil Litigation, Judges and Judiciary, Environmental & Energy
Take a closer look at CEQA petitions
By Susan L. Brandt-Hawley
Both judges and attorneys must be familiar with CEQA's unique litigation deadlines and processes that implement this important...
Irony is not lost on the few remaining Holocaust survivors that Germany has championed and led the way in taking far more than...
U.S. Supreme Court, Intellectual Property
Laches live on in patent context despite high court ruling
By Ben M. Davidson
Whereas Congress eliminated laches as a defense in copyright cases by enacting a three-year period, it codified laches as a de...
Health Care & Hospital Law, Government, Civil Rights, Administrative/Regulatory
Statewide condom law ignores reality of industry
By Chauntelle Anne Tibbals
Plans to take L.A.'s law requiring condom use in porn productions statewide in 2016 are ill-conceived. ...
Days after introducing 'new' corporate prosecution guidelines encouraging the prosecution of individuals, the DOJ announced an...
Government, Corporate, Administrative/Regulatory
DOJ authority to strike deals with defendants limited
By Michael M. Farhang
On Sept. 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument in a significant case on the U.S. Department o...
Who wins when the Fed refuses to raise interest rates, yet again?
Criminal, Civil Rights
Transgender jail policy a major advance
By Sanford Jay Rosen, Aaron J. Fischer
SF recently announced a plan to allow transgender prisoners who identify as female to participate in programs in women's jail.
Constitutional Law, California Supreme Court
Testing the temerity of the takings clause
By Basil S. Shiber
Recent cases have tested the scope of the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in a variety of conte...