Civil Litigation, Appellate Practice
Creating an appealable judgment
By Alana H. Rotter
What should you do when the trial court throws out the cause of action or legal theory at the heart of your case, but leaves s...
We know how Bob Dylan's poetry has fared in the eyes of lawyers and jurists. But what about the reciprocal view? ...
What the FDA is really saying is that it thinks John and Jane Q. Public are so dense that 23andMe will cause an epidemic of pr...
There has been substantial litigation over what a claim is and when a claim is first made.
Judges may not be fed up with insulting, discourteous, obdurate or offensively familiar counsel, but I am. ...
In just over a two-month span, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has issued two diametrically op...
Now starts the season of reflecting on the recent past. The good of course is sometimes easy to forget; the bad and the ugly, ...
There has been relatively little published activity by state appellate courts regarding the size of punitive damage awards unt...
I hear voices
By Arthur Gilbert
In decades past, before the ubiquity of the disembodied voice, we heard the old-fashioned voice. Remember?
The nature and scope of audits is changing.
Last week three women became the first ever to successfully complete the punishing U.S. Marine Corps infantry course.
Can the IRS come along and claim that a "loan" you received isn't a loan at all and was actually income? Yes, it can.
Earn MCLE credit reviewing the rules for calculating restitution for victims of crimes.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
An honest broker's approach to mediated settlements
By Jan Frankel Schau
When I sat down to read Dwight Golann's "Sharing a Mediator's Powers: Effective Advocacy in Settlement," I was struggling to r...
Sometimes people simply are not who they say they are.
Insurance
Unfair practices law not a shield against suits by insureds
By Brian S. Kabateck
The state high court recently held that an insured can maintain a suit for violations of the unfair competition law based on c...
International Law, Intellectual Property
The sword and the shield: trade secrets law in China
By Pooja S. Nair
The landscape of trade secrets in China is fraught with contradictions.
Law Practice, California Supreme Court
Peter Principle and the story of Stephen Glass
By Julie L. Kessler
As the state high court seemed to be indicating in their comments at the hearing, Glass will in all likelihood remain a parale...
Civil Litigation, Law Office Management, Intellectual Property
A not-so-elementary copyright case
By Andrew J. Thomas
When it comes to literary characters - including Sherlock Holmes - it's not so easy to detect when something enters the public...
U.S. Supreme Court, Environmental & Energy
Climate change redux at high court
By Richard M. Frank
States are divided when it comes to the greenhouse gas cases pending before the U.S. high court. ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
One who takes the benefit (of arbitration) must bear the burden
By Joe W. Hilberman
I recently had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion on the topic of stresses on our courts and how they may inc...
Family, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Don't tread on the right to opt out of adversarial litigation
By Franklin R. Garfield
Should divorcing spouses who mediate their case have the right to opt out of procedural requirements that are an integral part...
VIDEO: An NSA-made defense
By Edward D. Totino
The NSA's sweeping phone surveillance programs may have just sounded the death-knell for lawsuits brought under California's I...
Year-end tax planning may be tough, but it will pay dividends
By Robert W. Wood
The changes between 2013 and 2014 tax rates and rules - let alone the entire economy - make it rough. ...
Civil Litigation, Law Practice, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Mediators call for voluntary certification
By Barbara Brown
Some mediators are unhappy that persons with minimal or no training can hold themselves out as mediators.
A Kenyan court recently sentenced several gang rapists to cut the grass at the local police station. I wish I could say this s...
Actual authority is the easy part; ostensible authority is where it gets tricky. ...
Litigation & Arbitration, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Returning arbitration to its roots
By Lawrence Waddington
The time has come to rethink arbitration in order to retain the merits of an expeditious and inexpensive method of dispute res...
All of us in the legal profession make legal decisions. But like everyone else, we also are compelled to make moral decisions ...
What if Mom and Dad are a healthy 85 and 80, and they do not wish to wait that long to liquidate their investment? ...