Judges and Judiciary, Civil Rights
Judicial Council has been misinforming about the ADA
The Judicial Council has been misinforming the judiciary about the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act since t...
Civil Rights
Religion is not a license to discriminate anywhere
In a 4-3 decision, and after many months of deliberation, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling on Sept. 16 in Bru...
Judges and Judiciary
How to hold misbehaving judges accountable
Judges should be held to the highest of ethical standards, and there's no reason they should keep a reward, like a pension, if...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
An innocuous Supreme Court case could be a blockbuster
A bankruptcy proceeding isn’t ordinarily what you think of as a Supreme Court blockbuster. But when the bankruptcy proceeding ...
Government, Civil Rights
Housing is a human right: A right to counsel for tenants
The Los Angeles City Council is on the verge of enacting our own Right to Counsel Program, providing legal counsel to tenants ...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Law Practice
The California Judicial Council is scheduled to adopt new rules requiring conservatorship attorneys to receive education on a ...
Environmental & Energy
New strategies for addressing major change in water law
With climate change at our doorstep, our state leaders know we don’t have time to wait until the next drought to create a more...
Sometimes, a lawyer might be the first responder
Civil Litigation, California Supreme Court
In a recent case of first impression, the California Supreme Court considered whether settling with a party in a multiparty to...
Civil Litigation, Government
Legislation will promote frivolous shakedown lawsuits
Assembly Bill 1270 (Stone) is an attempt to expand the False Claims Act to allow the attorney general, local prosecutors and p...
Criminal, Constitutional Law, California Supreme Court
The California Supreme Court has rejected the government's attempt to require a youth probationer, as a condition of release, ...
Criminal, Constitutional Law, California Courts of Appeal
The Jagged Shore
The shore defining the boundary of indigent defendants' constitutional right to forestall or forego liability for certain asse...
Criminal, Constitutional Law
‘ERPOs’ can help reduce gun violence
States are increasingly recognizing that lives can be saved by Extreme Risk Protection laws, which enable people who exhibit ...
Are we in the midst of a similar trend in formal legal writing, relaxing the use of contractions? Are the few judicial contrac...
Law Practice
WHY?
August — the month that many of my readers are on vacation. So why write an August column? Other columnists take off a month o...
We send them there. We break them. Then we take away their benefits.
Our country can uphold both national security and its commitment to refugee protection. Indeed, it's done exactly that for dec...
Government, Constitutional Law
Last month, the San Francisco City Council voted to prohibit city agencies from using facial recognition software on municipal...
Currently pending before the California Supreme Court is an issue that calls into question the motivations of California offic...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Rub a dub dub
There may now be three justices open to moving away from substantive due process as the basis for incorporating the rights the...
Government
How LA can make an immediate impact on homelessness
In May 2015, The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board asked readers, “Could you live in L.A. on $221 a month?” The answer then, a...
Government, Environmental & Energy, Administrative/Regulatory
Will the wave of PFAS litigation hit California?
In the last year, litigation involving per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances has spiked across the nation. To date this litigati...
They profoundly influence our lives. They can be found all over the world. When not fulfilling their mission, they blend in wi...
Tax, Law Practice
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed at the end of 2017 doubled the estate and gift tax exemption. With much aplomb, it was announ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Government, Constitutional Law
Supreme Court’s nondelegation ruling settled nothing
On the morning of September 28 last year, Sen. Jeff Flake announced he would be voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. A few hours...
Military Law, Health Care & Hospital Law, Government, Family
Many veterans believe that government benefits are only available if they were wounded in combat or suffer from a disability r...
Community News
LA-ABOTA program update
You won't find a better close-up audience experience to hone your trial skills than by watching and hearing the state's very b...
Government, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Preserve LA’s Dispute Resolution Program
For 30 years -- since Avis Ridley-Thomas founded it in 1989 -- the Dispute Resolution Program has been providing free mediatio...
Real Estate, Government
HUD policy would exacerbate a worsening crisis
Last month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development published a proposed rule which would terminate housing assistance...
Judges and Judiciary, Constitutional Law
An insightful look at state constitutional law
I recently attended a talk by Judge Jeffrey Sutton who sits on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The subject was a book h...