Torts/Personal Injury
The hidden danger of smoke exposure after the air clears
By Stacy Thumsuden
Smoke inhalation injuries are routinely underestimated, delayed in presentation and catastrophic when untreated. For elderly r...
Congress has rewritten the rules for Nazi-looted art claims, sweeping away decades-old defenses and setting the stage for high...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
What lawyers need to know before a CTAPP compliance review arrives
By Gary L. Krausz
With up to 800 attorneys a year expected to face mandatory CTAPP reviews, California lawyers should now treat the program as a...
Technology
What small firms should learn from Kirkland's half-billion AI bet
By Lindsey S. Mignano
As Kirkland & Ellis reportedly invests roughly $500 million in its own AI platform, many lawyers are asking a pressing que...
U.S. Supreme Court, International Law
The strange afterlife of Cuban property seizures
By Michael M. Berger
The Supreme Court's rulings in major Cuban confiscation and trafficking cases clarify the scope of the Libertad Act and modern...
The Uber ballot war we were ready to fight was called off last week in a private deal. Here is what it taught the next generat...
Construction
California Civil Code section 8850: Redefining construction dispute resolution
By Theresa C. Becerra, Zackary G. Smith
The Private Works Change Order Fair Payment Act may fundamentally reshape construction dispute resolution in California, requi...
A settlement agreement's tax language can be as important as the settlement amount itself. Plaintiffs who ignore allocations a...
Insurance, Civil Procedure, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
9th Circuit confirms use of extrinsic evidence in interpreting insurance policies
By Kirk A. Pasich
Insurance coverage disputes always start with questions about the interpretation of insurance policies. But despite decades of...
International Law
When the goalposts move: Rethinking dispute strategy in Mexico
By Ilan Katz
Mexico's ongoing judicial reforms are reshaping how foreign investors think about risk, enforcement and dispute resolution.
Antitrust & Trade Reg.
California should lead on competition while Washington falters
By Gene Kimmelman
As federal antitrust enforcement falters and monopolies tighten their grip on the economy, California's COMPETE Act aims to cl...
As courts repeatedly block executive overreach, the judiciary's role as an independent check on presidential power underscores...
A Father's Day reflection on the tough-love generation of dads whose quiet sacrifices, humor and hard-earned wisdom shaped the...
Technology
The ghost in the courtroom: From AI chatbots to 'agentic litigation'
By Timothy Spangler, Steven E. Young
AI is reshaping litigation by challenging traditional attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine and discovery rules, wh...
Law Practice
Inconceivable! Judges mangling famous lines from literature
By Ashfaq G. Chowdhury
A Shakespearean phrase commonly used to describe ignored rules originally meant the opposite and its evolution illustrates how...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Costing nothing, but buying everything: Common courtesies in arbitration, part two
By Christopher David Ruiz Cameron
Simple courtesies such as accommodating witness availability, allowing remote testimony, stipulating to produced documents, an...
Public distrust of lawyers and judges, fueled by high-profile scandals and everyday misconduct, threatens confidence in the ju...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
When helping hurts: Understanding and managing vicarious trauma in legal practice
By Noel E. Guth
Attorneys absorb clients' trauma every day, yet the profession rarely acknowledges the toll. Recognizing vicarious trauma is e...
Litigation & Arbitration
20 cases, one message: Arbitration law is in flux
By Paul Dubow
California appellate courts issued 20 arbitration decisions in the first five months of this year, tackling high-stakes questi...
Insurance
Title insurance law improvement could provide greater 'peace of mind'
By Douglas W. Stern
California could improve the peace-of-mind protection promised by title insurance by allowing title insurers to substitute the...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Costing nothing, but buying everything: Common courtesies in arbitration, part one
By Christopher David Ruiz Cameron
Simple professional courtesies, such as accepting reasonable procedural suggestions, meeting and conferring before raising dis...
Civil Procedure
California's civil procedure morass and the federal fix in 35 states
By Loren Kieve
For a state that prides itself on innovation, California's civil procedure rules have become unnecessarily complex, driving up...
Wills, Estates & Trusts
Restraints that won't hold: What Godoy v. Linzner means for California fiduciaries and beneficiaries
By Madeleine Vasily
A new Court of Appeal decision, Godoy v. Linzner, holds that trust provisions restricting beneficiaries' ability to ...
Heppner fired the warning shot. Morgan drew th...
Torts/Personal Injury
Supreme Court glyphosate fight is supposed to redefine failure-to-warn lawsuits, but will it?
By R. Brent Wisner
Monsanto v. Durnell asks whether federal pesticide labeling law preempts state failure-to-warn claims, a question emerg...
Consumer Protection Law
Regulatory law is both an art and a science
By Pejman Javaheri
What food companies can learn from the David Protein lawsuit: When regulatory compliance, science and consumer perception coll...
Civil Procedure
Can we end discovery abuse? A Kotter-inspired blueprint for reform
By Mel Red Recana
A proposed overhaul of California discovery practice applies John P. Kotter's change-management framework to create a faster, ...
A Justice Department opinion seeks to dismantle decades of employment discrimination protections by making it far harder for w...
Constitutional Law
Proposition 50's gerrymander worked exactly as designed
By James R. Bozajian
Post-primary analysis of Proposition 50's redistricting shows a near-elimination of competitive California congressional distr...
Environmental & Energy
Providing environmental protection or merely performing it
By Nicholas Targ
California's environmental and land use laws have become so focused on process and litigation that they often fail to deliver ...