Terror and the Law - Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - Throughout American history, whenever there has been a serious cris...
In my last column, we talked briefly about Shaquille O'Neal's response to a question last season about what it would take for ...
There is no area in which the individual predilection of judges more consistently subverts the rule of law, common sense and b...
Insurance
Three-Step Interpretation Process for Contracts Confuses California Courts
By Rex Heeseman
Once upon a time, "ambiguity" was king in California with respect to interpreting an insurance policy. But now, "context" is k...
Forum Column - By David A. Lash - It is time to ensure that the judicial branch of our democracy exalts responsiveness over pa...
Intellectual Property
Creator of Computer Source Code May Not Be 'Author'
By Stuart Meyer
In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion that clarified a very important issue in copyright law: Who owns the...
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - Although many disagree about the First Amendment, no one denies that political speech is...
Forum Column - By Hiram Torres - A new piece of legislation that likely will substantially restrict public access to certified...
Labor/Employment
Discovery in Overtime Class Actions Often Is Prevented Before Certification
By Aashish Y. Desai
The idea that a defendant is not allowed to conduct discovery before class counsel files a motion for class certification soun...
Forum Column - By David A. Lash - The answer to the uproar over the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal's Pledge of Allegiance de...
More than a decade ago, California courts began to summarily adjudicate out "bad faith" claims if the insurer proved that it ...
Constitutional Law
Movie Alerts People to U.S. Abuses of Individual Rights
By Stephen F. Rohde
Forum Column - By Stephen F. Rohde - "The guilty are arrested before the law is broken." Are these the words of Attorney Gener...
After the Los Angeles Lakers lost one of their games to the Sacramento Kings at the Western Conference Finals, Shaquille O'Nea...
Appellate Practice
In Some Cases, Appeal Will Lie From an Order, Not a Judgment
By Paul D. Fogel , Benjamin G. Shatz
Focus Column - By Paul D. Fogel and Benjamin G. Shatz - For some time now, the Courts of Appeal have admonished litigants that...
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky In Ring v. Arizona , 2002 DJDAR 7047 (U.S. June 24, 2002), the Supreme Court held t...
Forum Column - By David A. Lash - Excerpted from a law school commencement address delivered May 18 to the University of West ...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Alternative Dispute Resolution
New Ethical Rules Mirror the Judicial Erosion of the Arbitration Process
By Lawrence Waddington
Intending to assure the public of integrity in the arbitration process, the Legislature has amended the California Arbitration...
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky Although the First Amendment provides broad protection for the right to express ideas, it ...
Family, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Mediators Should Provide the Parties with Basic Information
By Franklin R. Garfield
Focus Column - By Franklin R. Garfield - It is widely assumed that family mediators do not have liability for professional neg...
Law Practice
Is Wealthy Actor Manipulating System?
By Gloria R. Allred, Margery Somers
Is Robert Blake legally required to pay the attorney fees and costs of Earle Caldwell, who has been charged as Blake's conspi...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Colleges Shouldn't Consider Race in Admission Decisions
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
Recently, the court in Grutter v. Bollinger upheld the University of Michigan Law School admissions policy which permits consi...
Forum Column - By David A. Lash - Attorney General John Ashcroft has risen from political ruin to a position from which he can...
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment inevitably requires that the courts balance th...
I am not yet eligible for Medicare but people periodically ask, "So when are you going to retire?" How periodically? I don't ...
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - When can state governments be sued for violating federal civil rights laws? For example,...
Recently, while in L.A. Superior Court on a demurrer hearing, I heard an exasperated judge pose this question: Why do you plai...
Forum Column - By David A. Lash and Beth A. Becker - In California, public policy is as clear as can be - protecting children ...
The American judicial system divides along legal lines paralleling our social culture. Constitutional law, state law and feder...
U.S. Supreme Court, Judges and Judiciary
Bureaucratic Bench Doesn't Intrigue Private Practitioners
By Gideon Kanner
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said a mouthful when, in his "state of the judiciary" report of last January, he deplored t...
My column usually appears on the first Monday of each month. But sometimes my day job gets in the way and I miss a month. On o...