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Education Law, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights

The Supreme Court's pending decisions in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox will clarify the federal ...


Drawing on his decades of experience in international law and U.S. foreign aid, Matthew Cohen argues that while President Trum...


Tax, Law Practice

Negotiating Forms 1099 in settlement agreements

Mar. 10, 2026
By Robert W. Wood

Proper planning in legal settlement agreements about IRS Form 1099 reporting--what forms will be issued, to whom, and in what ...


Military Law, Civil Rights

Military women recently sacked

Mar. 10, 2026
By Eileen C. Moore

Women now serve in all branches of the military, including combat roles, yet in recent months many women in military leadershi...


Family, Alternative Dispute Resolution

Divorces are costly: Mediators and private judges can reduce those costs

Mar. 9, 2026
By Dianna Gould-Saltman, Michèle Bissada

This second installment explains how combining private mediation with a privately compensated temporary judge can streamline c...


A recent 5th Circuit decision clarified that for federal self-employment tax purposes, a "limited partner" is defined by state...


AB 1897 would rewrite California's Mentally Disordered Offender law by lowering the standard for civil commitment from "substa...



Family

Separating together? California's new joint petition allows spouses to do just that

Mar. 9, 2026
By Jennifer J. Winestone, Jeffery S. Jacobson

On Jan. 1, California introduced a new Joint Petition process for divorce and legal separation. It is an important step toward...


Family, Ethics/Professional Responsibility

Why civility still wins in the courtroom

Mar. 6, 2026
By Nancy Wieben Stock, Scott M. Gordon

Civility isn't just good manners -- it's a strategic advantage that can enhance your credibility, persuade judges, and ultimat...


Family, Alternative Dispute Resolution

Stipulations can streamline custody cases, even in domestic violence matters. But as the Court of Appeal reminds us, in Sectio...


Torts/Personal Injury, Technology, Contracts

AI is hiring

Mar. 6, 2026
By James Mixon

When an AI agent hires a gig worker to photograph equipment in a warehouse and the worker breaks an ankle, who is the employer...


Tax practitioners must prioritize ethical duties and thorough research over timing and efficiency concerns when advising clien...


Evidence

Admitting testimony regarding business records

Mar. 6, 2026
By Jay M. Spillane

When contract disputes reach trial, the outcome often turns not just on what was written, but on what was said, intended and p...


Legacies in the law: Celebrating the families who shape our profession

Mar. 6, 2026
By Paul R. Kiesel, Lauren M. Kiesel

"Legacies in the Law" celebrates attorney-parent teams and raises scholarships for first-gen law students--June 25 at the Cali...


Ethics/Professional Responsibility

The February 2026 Heppner decision marks the first U.S. case addressing whether client communications with generative...


Casual emails, recycled opinions, and unchecked client facts can turn routine tax advice into Circular 230 violations, penalti...


The crumbling infrastructure of federal courthouses is not merely a crisis of bricks and mortar but a profound human tragedy t...


Technology, Intellectual Property

Federal courts are the right venue for IP disputes, but they are not well positioned for AI-driven conflicts. A mediator with ...


Criminal, Constitutional Law

Los Angeles County jails are failing the people they hold

Mar. 5, 2026
By William M. Paparian

Los Angeles County jails are failing: preventable deaths, overdoses and suicides reveal unconstitutional conditions that deman...


Technology, Ethics/Professional Responsibility

Generative AI may speed up legal work under tight deadlines, but overreliance risks creating hallucinated case law, profession...


Class Action, Civil Procedure

Recent 9th Circuit decisions are reshaping how federal courts handle equitable claims in California consumer class actions, cr...


President Donald Trump and his administration have escalated efforts to challenge court decisions, call for judges' impeachmen...


Judges and Judiciary, Evidence, Criminal

Dead data walking

Mar. 4, 2026
By Michael J. Raphael

California courts keep citing the "roughly 1 in 200" armed-robbery-death statistic, originally from a single 1980 Supreme Cour...


Labor/Employment, Alternative Dispute Resolution

ABA Formal Opinion 518 limits mediators from advising on a party's "best interest," making opening demands, mediator choice an...


Civil Litigation

The promise is the lie: A litigator's guide to pleading promissory fraud

Mar. 3, 2026
By H. Mark Madnick, Armound Ghoorchian

A promissory fraud claim lives or dies on facts showing the promisor never intended to perform when the promise was made--mere...


Education Law, Constitutional Law, Administrative/Regulatory

States challenge HHS grant conditions as an unlawful expansion of Title IX

Mar. 3, 2026
By Misa K. Eiritz, Zoe L. Ginsberg

Twelve states have sued HHS, CMS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and others over Executive Order 14168, arguing that conditioning fede...


Ethics/Professional Responsibility

When California attorneys learn they are the target of a State Bar OCTC investigation, they should strongly consider retaining...


Technology, Ethics/Professional Responsibility

AI and the problem of plausible answers

Mar. 3, 2026
By Neal J. Fialkow

Artificial intelligence systems can reason their way to a clean, confident answer -- and still get it wrong in ways that matter.


Guide to Legal Writing

The Appellate Bar-tender

Mar. 3, 2026
By Benjamin G. Shatz

This article playfully maps appellate law practice to cocktail mixology, using creative drink recipes--each inspired by motion...