Administrative/Regulatory, Securities, Government
SEC goes after its first initial coin offering
On Sept. 29, the SEC issued its first civil complaint against two companies and their founder for violating anti-fraud and re...
Civil Litigation, Corporate, U.S. Supreme Court, Labor/Employment
Yellow dog contracts, ‘jiggery-pokery’ and the FAA
As Justice Breyer intimated, a Supreme Court decision allowing employer prohibitions on employee class actions would "overturn...
Law Practice, Corporate, Civil Litigation
One-stop shop for business and commercial litigation
Wouldn't it be nice to have everything one needs to know collected in one place? Enter "Business and Commercial Litigation in...
Government, Transportation, Administrative/Regulatory
A federal judge recently held that portions of the city of Newton, Massachusetts's ordinance attempting to regulate unmanned a...
Corporate, Civil Litigation, Contracts
Drafting mandatory forum selection clauses
Contracting parties might agree to a forum selection clause for any number of reasons: to ensure favorable legal precedent, to...
Government, Labor/Employment, Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court
Time to overrule Abood
The U.S. Supreme Court described laws that empower unions to coerce funds from non-union members as an “extraordinary state en...
Criminal, Civil Rights
Crime and algorithms
There is a cost to be paid for the myriad benefits society derives from the use of algorithms. An occasional “date from hell,”...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Another take on Cake at the US high court
So here’s where we are in Masterpiece Cakeshop: The lineup of eight of the justices is pretty clear, 4-to-4.
Administrative/Regulatory, Government, California Supreme Court
A city manager’s personal cellphone buzzes in the early morning hours with notice of a string of urgent texts advising about t...
Securities, Government, Corporate, Administrative/Regulatory
SEC announces creation of new ‘Cyber Unit’
Chairman Jay Clayton of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reaffirmed that “[c]ybersecurity is an area that is vi...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal
High court should clarify scope of CFAA
The justices should take up U.S. v. Nosal to clarify the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act -- the statute was intended...
Constitutional Law, California Supreme Court
Carpenter v. United States implicates what is known as the third-party doctrine, under which any information voluntarily provi...
Over the summer, Oregon federal public defenders asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review Mohamud v. United States, a terrorism ...
Real Estate
A primer on how the attorney-client privilege functions in the realm of trust administration. By Benjamin D. Fox
Corporate
Delaware update: amendments to General Corporation Law
Two recent amendments have important practical implications for private corporations and create a framework for significant ch...
Civil Litigation
Is a Non-Party's Contact Information Private?
When a class action litigant seeks to discover contact information for a third party--often with respect to potential class me...
Labor/Employment
At a recent business lunch, I was surprised to hear that many attendees (most of whom are practicing attorneys) pay their chil...
California Supreme Court, Tax, Civil Litigation, Government, California Courts of Appeal
It just got easier to pass local taxes
Time will tell what a recent state high court decision means for local taxation. But it appears to make it easier to pass loca...
Intellectual Property, Corporate
Choosing the right name for your company from a branding perspective is important. Equally important, however, is avoiding a n...
Transportation, Administrative/Regulatory
While fully autonomous “level 5” vehicles are still some time out, scores of automakers are already introducing level 2 (parti...
Civil Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Navigating Riverside’s complex departments
For years, complex civil matters in Riverside County were somewhat randomly distributed to departments throughout the county.
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Administrative/Regulatory, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Saving fishers from California’s discrimination
The U.S. Supreme Court has a chance to set things right by granting certiorari in a case involving California’s commercial fis...
Administrative/Regulatory, Securities, Civil Litigation
Life sciences companies under attack by plaintiffs' bar
According to Cornerstone Research, at midyear the number of filings against pharmaceutical companies already had eclipsed the ...
Corporate, Contracts
Invasion of the smart contract hackers
Many see the blockchain as the wild west of today’s technology sector due to its disruptive potential. As a result, developers...
Law Practice, Government
Presenting at local government meetings 101
As a practicing city attorney, I sit through many hours of public meetings. I’ve probably seen just about everything from the ...
There a several reasons for each of us in legal education and in the profession to broaden our own perspectives and evaluation...
U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property, Health Care & Hospital Law, Corporate, Contracts
The biosimilar patent dance: When in doubt, list it
For all the reference product sponsors about to enter into a patent dance under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovatio...
Appellate Practice, U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Judges and Judiciary, California Supreme Court
Tailoring the Emperor’s New Clothes
Precedent sometimes rests upon a legal fiction, and persists until a later decision exposes the fiction for what it is.
Judges and Judiciary, Appellate Practice, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Litigation
Dos and Don’ts in the 9th Circuit
If Special Counsel Robert Mueller has opened a grand jury investigation, the witch has fallen from her broom and the dogs are ...