U.S. Supreme Court, Labor/Employment, California Supreme Court
The last waltz with the FAA
By Steven B. Katz
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Monday reemphasizes the notion that its time for California courts stop dancing around the Fede...
Government, Environmental & Energy, Administrative/Regulatory
California must remain a climate leader beyond 2020
By Annie Notthoff
Today, with climate deniers in charge in Washington, D.C., it is more important than ever for California to stay the course in...
Judges and Judiciary, Civil Rights
Maintain professionalism in depositions
By J. Randolph Evans, Shari L. Klevens
To avoid the ire of the court and serious sanctions, attorneys taking and defending depositions should conduct themselves as i...
Labor/Employment, Administrative/Regulatory
Local cannabis laws and drug testing pitfalls
By Ryan A. McCoy
Amid the constantly shifting tide of laws at the federal, state and local levels, employers must ensure compliance with Califo...
Administrative/Regulatory
Protecting the traveler, and sometimes the travel industry
By Laurie E. Sherwood, Sadaf A. Nejat
Until case law addressing the Travel Consumer Restitution Corporation waiver develops, there is no certainty as to how differe...
Government, Criminal, Administrative/Regulatory
Keep feds out of our cannabis business
By Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Lynne Lyman
Assembly Bill 1578 would prohibit the federal government from forcing local agencies to assist in enforcing federal marijuana ...
EU data protection regulations take effect next year
By Ana Razmazma
The EU General Data Protection Regulation, which becomes effective next May, is a warning shot fired across the Atlantic -- th...
Labor/Employment, California Supreme Court
Resurrecting the 'spirit' of the 7th day of rest
By Wendy Mcguire Coats, Katherine P. Sandberg
With its origins reaching back thousands of years, the history behind this law is richer than you think. ...
Such funding is unlikely to produce an upsurge of frivolous litigation, though it could produce a wave of law firm startups.
Civil Litigation, Law Practice, Health Care & Hospital Law
Signed into law in 1975, MICRA reform is long overdue
By Mark B. Simowitz
Clearly, the law has not kept pace with inflation. Indeed, in 1975, the median price home in California cost $41,600. Today, t...
Intellectual Property
Implications for prefiling activity under AIA
By Abhijit P. Adisesh
As a result of a recent Federal Circuit ruling, there may be implications concerning prefiling commercial activity that practi...
Tax, Probate
Constructive trusts can be court imposed to ensure equity
By Megan Lisa Jones
A recent case demonstrates that, sometimes, the law recognizes equity.
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
SEARCH WARS: Return of the Judiciary
By Brian M. Hoffstadt
Whereas the first two articles looked at the present and the past, respectively, this article looks to the future by asking ho...
Superior Court Judge Imperial County (Brawley) ...
Corporate, Contracts, California Courts of Appeal
Contracts may hold up, even if signer had no authority to bind
By Iain Mickle, Andrea L. Bacchi
In a recent appellate ruling, the court determined that third parties may benefit from a statutory safe harbor whereby an agre...
Government, Administrative/Regulatory
Law firms can take a page from Macron
By Anita Taff-Rice
Living in the age of cyberhackers, law firms should consider reverting to landline phone calls and paper documents to protect ...
Civil Rights
Special prosecutor rules and the case of the Groveland Boys
By Thomas M. Hall
It doesn't matter why the state Supreme Court rejected the rule. What matters is that prosecutors continue to seek convictions...
Tax, Government, Administrative/Regulatory
California needs to create a court devoted to tax
By Bruce Givner, Owen Kaye
A state tax court would expedite justice by encouraging out-of-court settlement, a key feature of the federal tax court system.
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Ruling is important victory for civil rights
By Erwin Chemerinsky
The U.S Supreme Court gave civil rights plaintiffs an important victory when it ruled that the city of Miami had standing to s...
U.S. Supreme Court, Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
The cautionary tale of the Black Pearl
By James P. Marion
The Walt Disney Company narrowly held onto future "Pirates of the Caribbean" booty on May 2, to little fanfare.
Health Care & Hospital Law, California Courts of Appeal
Future medical expenses thrown into an ACA flux
By Jeffrey D. Wolf
A California Court of Appeal decision recently injected politics and the country's health care debate into a routine personal ...
This month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in a closely watched case against a foreign government that raised ques...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
SEARCH WARS: The Fifth Amendment Strikes Back
By Brian M. Hoffstadt
If the U.S. Supreme Court defined privacy in terms of what protects our personhood, it would obviate an inquiry into the wheth...
California Courts of Appeal, Appellate Practice
Appellate decision rejects trail immunity in Pasadena case
By Dana M. Howard, Marc Tran
An court has rejected the city of Pasadena's assertion of trail immunity when a child was hit in the head with a golf ball whi...
As a longtime observer of China, a year or perhaps even 100 days ago I would have characterized China as a country that is the...
Any appellate judge will tell you that the standard of review is the first thing they look for in a brief.
Environmental & Energy, Administrative/Regulatory
Proposed CEQA reforms would destroy key provisions
By Adrian Martinez
What so-called CEQA "reformers" fail to mention is that their proposed changes would severely weaken many of CEQA's key provis...
Law Practice, Appellate Practice, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
The California Circuit?
By Benjamin G. Shatz
Actually, there once was such a circuit; let's take a look back to understand its place in history.
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
SEARCH WARS: A New Hope for Definitional Clarity
By Brian M. Hoffstadt
A long time ago, in a courtroom far far away, a disturbance in the Fourth Amendment first manifested itself. ...
Superior Court Judge Imperial County (El Centro) ...