The top-down approach to conservatorship reform has been tried for nearly 15 years with very little success. Perhaps it is tim...
Before gifting to foreign charities (through checks, credit cards or Venmo), consider that charitable giving outside this coun...
Law Practice, Law Office Management
The experience of managing a law firm during the 12-plus months since California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his March 19, 2020, ...
U.S. Supreme Court
As the administrative state has expanded, so too has the importance of the Freedom of Information Act. FOIA ensures public scr...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
A fundamental aspect of private property is that the owner can choose whom to let onto the property and who to exclude as a tr...
Does the military really want women in its ranks?
A recent 9th Circuit decision was the first appellate ruling to permit a lawsuit to proceed on a challenge to forced membershi...
If you don’t spend a lot of time on #appellatetwitter, you may have missed a recent momentous event in citation history.
A measure relating to appointed legal counsel in probate conservatorships was recently introduced into the California Assembly.
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
San Francisco lost sight of a simple truth when it decided that condo conversions presented an opportunity to require property...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, California Courts of Appeal, Appellate Practice
Expedition vs excellence
To follow up on last month’s column “Revelations,” this column centers on, not centers around, opinion writing.
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, Books
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a vexing decision in Castle Rock v. Gonzales. There, the court found that a do...
Clients should also be told about the risks of litigation, including trial, mediation costs and the financial advantages and d...
As a result of COVID-19, we all have experienced a state of seemingly unrelenting fear and panic, with family and health conce...
On Jan. 21, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to modify the HIPAA privacy rul...
Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court
To collect $1,200 plus interest, a Nebraska county took Walter Barnette’s land worth $25,000 and gave it to an investor. Walte...
Judges and Judiciary
The California Judges Association has established an Award that will be given every three years to an exceptional judicial out...
Civil Litigation
When the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 was amended in late 2018, one of the amendments opened the door to using electroni...
Next in the Negotiating Trauma & the Law Series, Professor Ty Alper speaks about representing clients on death row; being ...
Well-known appellate attorney Jon Eisenberg complained to the Judicial Performance Commission about delays in filing opinions ...
Immigration, Government
On President Joe Biden’s first day in office, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would stop adding people t...
Personal jurisdiction can be a powerful tool against forum shopping by the filing plaintiff. It is imperative to spot the issu...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Do you have the right to privately support charities and causes you believe in? And what standard applies when the government ...
In two cases this term, the U.S. Supreme Court will provide guidance on how appellate courts are to review the credibility of ...
Looks like our Democracy is intact. Whatever one’s politics or rationale for positions extreme and otherwise, the courts maint...
Judges and Judiciary, Government
Few people outside the legal profession realize that Luis Cespedes, the governor’s newly named Judicial Appointments Secretary...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary, California Supreme Court
When it comes to terminology that is acceptable in legal briefs and judicial opinions, the California Style Manual is the bibl...
Administrative/Regulatory
Despite statutory limitations, over the decades the California Coastal Commission’s mission and jurisdiction have steadily met...
Newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is clearly a man on a mission to create new laws, whether the...
Law Practice, Judges and Judiciary
Time to end disability stigmas in judicial opinions
A well-reasoned appellate opinion came to my attention the other day. Its conclusion upheld the social decision-making rights ...