Bankruptcy
Small businesses and creditors set to benefit from revisions to US Bankruptcy Code
By Breck E. Milde
In the first major revision to the United States Bankruptcy Code in almost 15 years, Congress recently enacted the Small Busin...
Letters, State Bar & Bar Associations
Setting the record straight on State Bar task force proposals
By Leah Wilson
In her Oct. 2 commentary (“Bar proposals will upend legal profession”), Erin Joyce makes several assertions about the State Ba...
How to stay golden when migrating from the Golden State
Compliments to copy editors and fact checkers
By Frank H. Wu
Both of these occupations are just about obsolete, like human computers as performing calculations for NASA to put a man on th...
Letters, Government, Criminal
California bill banning use of for-profit prisons is a game changer
By Jackie Gonzalez, Hamid Yazdan Panah
California is on the brink of passing one of the most comprehensive bills on incarceration and detention in the country. Assem...
Military Law, Judges and Judiciary, Criminal
California’s Veterans Treatment Courts
By Eileen C. Moore
The trauma of jail can set veterans on a backward course
International Law, Intellectual Property, Government
The DTSA and the China Initiative
By David S. Bloch, Xavier Brandwajn
What impacts have they had on civil trade secret litigation in the Northern District of California?
Intellectual Property, Corporate
Cannabis and craft beer: Insulated from tariff wars, still to protect trade secrets
By Dan M. Forman
Cannabis sales are safe from potential tariff wars as the international transportation of cannabis is not yet approved. Many c...
Intellectual Property, Criminal
Criminal prosecution of federal trade secret theft
By Sara J. O’Connell
Review factors that federal prosecutors consider when determining whether to bring criminal trade secret theft charges.
Civil Litigation, Labor/Employment, Intellectual Property
Enforceability of hold-out restrictive covenants increasingly in doubt in California
By Laura D. Smolowe
California's longstanding emphasis on employee mobility and unique skepticism of most noncompete agreements is well-known. Sti...
Civil Litigation, Intellectual Property
The inevitable disclosure doctrine in DTSA litigation
By Conor Tucker
The inevitable disclosure doctrine infers improper use and/or disclosure of a former employer’s trade secrets from the circums...
Intellectual Property, Corporate
Developing a trade secret protection program to reduce risk and increase court enforcement
By Mark Terman
Companies rely on trade secrets for competitive advantage. Theft of those assets hurts them by empowering competitors who have...
Why patent subject matter eligibility has innovators thinking about trade secrets.
U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Litigation
Supreme Court to examine discovery rule in FDCPA cases
By Jean-Claude André
Sometimes small cases hit the big stage. Rotkiske v. Klemm began with a debt collection agency filing a complaint in Philadelp...
Labor/Employment
Employers and social media: What is there not to ‘like’?
By Michele Haydel Gehrke
Today’s employers face new challenges regarding their employees’ use of social media that raise important compliance issues. S...
Labor/Employment, Government
Is Dynamex retroactive? What will the California Supreme Court say?
By Chris Micheli
Since Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) on Sept. 18, many Capitol obser...
Shouting and blasting from synagogues to Washington DC
Civil Litigation, Construction
It’s tough to be a concrete supplier under California labor laws
By Garret D. Murai
In 2015, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 219 which amended the state’s prevailing wage law to add Labor Code S...
Civil Litigation, Letters
Legislation won’t fix broken discovery process
By Richard C. Leonard
I read with interest State Sen. Thomas Umberg’s column on Senate Bill 17 aimed at mitigating gamesmanship in civil litigation....
Labor/Employment
Using big data for employment decisions comes with risks
By James M. Finberg
Employers now have access to a great deal of information about applicants and employees from a wide variety of sources, but us...
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Balancing ethical duties when a client’s claims lack merit
By Shawn Shaffie
What ethical obligations arise when an attorney is required to withdraw from representation because the client’s claim(s) lack...
Government, Constitutional Law
Let’s get to a point where our elected officials can focus on the long run
By Kris Whitten
For almost three years we have been witnessing the partisan reality show that is our president and Congress.
The First Monday
By Blaine H. Evanson, Lauren M. Blas
The U.S. Supreme Court was largely able to avoid controversy in the cases it decided last term, but when the justices return t...
Insurance, Civil Rights
Conditional settlement demands: defusing third-parties’ tactics
By Albert K. Alikin, Landon Greene
California Supreme Court Justice Otto Kaus once prophetically said, “It seems to me that attorneys who handle policy claims ag...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
What is discrimination because of ‘sex’?
By Rex S. Heinke, Jenna M. Nalchajian
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the issue this week.
Civil Litigation, Appellate Practice
Appellate lawyers in trial courts?
By Myron Moskovitz
Recently, trial attorneys have begun to call me at the outset of a case, while it’s still in the trial court. “This case invol...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, Constitutional Law, California Supreme Court
Protecting victims in the courtroom is not a violation of the confrontation clause
By Kymberlee C. Stapleton
The state has a compelling interest in encouraging victims to report their abuse so that their assailants can be prosecuted fo...
Law Practice
Will the artificial intelligence please take the stand
By Paul F. Rafferty
As fully autonomous vehicles stuffed with Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) ready to take to our roadways and commandeer the live...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
The taxonomy of mediators
By Michael H. Leb, Paul P. Cheng
Bullies, butterflies, status quo and compliance
Law Practice, Ethics/Professional Responsibility
The essential timing of ethical screens to prevent firm disqualification
By Stephanie Yee
Due increasing lateral movement, it is more important than ever that firms take a close look at who they are hiring and how to...