Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Evaluating claims and risks of hindsight
By Alanna G. Clair, Shari L. Klevens
Attorneys who fail to give a valuation its due consideration could create unnecessary risk in the event things go sideways.
Labor/Employment, California Supreme Court
Hold your breath: California courts continue to weigh wage statement violation defense
By Theodore E. Bacon, W. Michael Hensley
Given the divergence in approaches on the "good faith" defense between Naranjo and Gola, the issue is ripe for p...
It seems reasonable to believe that there are an increasing number of bad faith settlements and judgments. Not all involve goo...
The lack of product consistency, market limitations, and even banking limitations all make celebrity brands in cannabis more d...
Technology, Law Practice
Do law firms fear AI for the right reasons?
By Daniel O’Rielly, Dena Roche
AI and the related potential for disruption is coming to law firms. This is good news for firms with a business culture of emb...
Judges and Judiciary, Appellate Practice
Not all judges have an affection for Amici
By Benjamin G. Shatz, Benjamin E. Strauss
Whether a particular court adopts the permissive or restrictive approach should not impact your amicus filings.
Military Law, Constitutional Law
Sikhs’ pursuit of religious freedom in the military
By Eileen C. Moore
The United States military’s dress code requirements preventing Sikhs from having beards and wearing turbans and religious art...
Government, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Recent amendment to AB-924 could wipe out mediation confidentiality when complaints arise
By A. Marco Turk
The proposed amendment would require that a mediator would be required to provide an additional explanation to parties that wh...
When we allow our personal opinions to influence our judgment, how fair or unfair are those personal opin...
Familiarity with literature and the humanities as a human, as opposed to an unthinking machine searching for words, is our tri...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
The Dust Bowl and the Supreme Court (Part I)
By John S. Caragozian
While the Supreme Court majority limited itself to the commerce clause, it recognized two important concepts in Edwards...
Judges and Judiciary
Looking askance at the law: The jurisprudence of anger
By William Domnarski
The nature, custom, and practice of opinion writing at the Supreme Court (and all other appellate courts as well) tells us how...
Treatment courts work. They work because they intelligently apply public health best-practices and clinical wisdom to help the...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary
JUDGING BAD GUYS Part VI: How litigators might deal with it
By Myron Moskovitz
Books on litigation tactics typically advise lawyers not to hide bad facts. Bring them out yourself - in your Statement of Fac...
Insurance
SIRs and the duty to defend: their impact may be less than you think
By Robert M. Waxman
The difference between SIRs and deductibles is that “the policy limits apply on top of the SIR,” but a deductible “reduces the...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
A new era of trust accounting
By David M. Majchrzak
It seems increasingly common to overhear conversations from lawyers about what to do when they cannot determine which funds be...
Technology, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Will AI or human neutrals decide your case?
By Jonathan A. Goldstein
The “AI Neutral” will become a reality, so the legal industry might as well embrace it.
A Jewish friend of his “with fine literary instincts and credentials,” knowing of Philip Slayton’s opinions said, “Don’t do it...
Constitutional Law, Cannabis
California cannabis social equity provisions and the dormant commerce clause
By Shay Aaron Gilmore
As California moves toward interstate cannabis commerce, and courts grapple with whether cannabis social equity provisions can...
The divide between the majority and dissent seems to be symptomatic of some murkiness in this area of First Amendment doctrine...
If you are going to reach a decision contrary to the United States Supreme Court that is directly on the issue presented, how...
Bankruptcy
New California legislation to extend bankruptcy-like protections to domestic violence victims
By Alphonse Provinziano
Under current law, victims have little recourse other than filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which destroys their credit.
U.S. Supreme Court
High court hears important case on False Claims Act’s scienter requirement
By Matthew D. Benedetto, Davina Pujari
The ramifications of a Supreme Court ruling on the Act’s scienter requirement could be far-reaching. Since its modernization i...
Torts/Personal Injury
Court applies the brakes to scooter company’s arguments
By Michael E. Rubinstein
In ruling against Bird Rides, Inc., the Court of Appeal affirmed that scooter companies owe the public a general duty of care ...
Family, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Cultural Divorce, Part III: Retainer without malpractice
By Abbas Hadjian
It is somewhat perplexing that many good family law attorneys recommend challenging a premarital agreement which is not in the...
Constitutional Law
The mifepristone debate lacks standing, harm, and should frighten everyone
By John H. Minan
The Fifth Circuit’s argument brushes aside the fact that millions of women have safely taken mifepristone without requiring me...
U.S. Supreme Court, Native Americans, Bankruptcy
SCOTUS wrestles with tribal sovereign immunity and whether the US bankruptcy code waives it
By Jack Duran
The Supreme Court seemed genuinely perplexed as to why the Code was absent any language referencing Indians or Tribes.
Torts/Personal Injury, Government
Nobody should “treat” themselves to cancer
By Vineet Dubey
A bill has been introduced that would ban certain additives found in foods commonly consumed by children. Although California ...
Why AI programs will never come close to producing an opinion as elegant and enduring as Cardozo's Hynes v. N.Y. Cent <...
Wills, Estates & Trusts
Telling the story of a trust administration, in numbers: an introduction to trust accountings
By Matthew D. Kanin, Nancy Reinhardt
The duty to account to named beneficiaries typically does not begin until the trust can no longer be revoked. (§ 16069(a).) A ...