California Supreme Court, Criminal
Racial bias impacts jurors’ death penalty decisions
By Eva J. Paterson
The recent guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial demonstrates the importance of having a diverse and representative jury. ...
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Labor/Employment, Tax
9th Circuit rightly upholds California’s retirement backstop
By Radha Pathak, John Stokes
Some state governments, including California, have stepped in to fill the gap left by employers who choose not to offer employ...
Administrative/Regulatory, Technology
FCC won’t defend net neutrality, but California will
By Corynne McSherry
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that high-speed internet is crucial to our daily lives — and that’s unlikely to c...
Trends in state privacy laws: Is it time for a federal law?
By Scott W. Pink
California led the nation in consumer privacy when it enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act in 2018, establishing the fi...
Health Care & Hospital Law
In the wake of CDC’s error, we will need vaccine passports
By Dorit Reiss
Almost a week ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a guidance on what vaccinated people can and canno...
Intellectual Property
Navigating whistleblower immunity for trade secret misappropriation
By Tom Wallerstein, Antonia I. Stabile
The 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Act grants immunity from trade secret liability to anyone who discloses a trade secret to an att...
Here are five key steps to a productive and successful mediation.
Civil Litigation, Law Practice
SB 447 eliminates the death discount and fixes an antiquated, unjust law
By Deborah Chang
California is one of a mere handful of states — along with Arizona, Colorado, Florida and Idaho — that grants a “death discoun...
For today’s senior citizens, relying on a neighbor’s help could be less safe than you’d think, especially in large metropolita...
California taxes are high, and if you are a very high income earner, they could go up. California legislators have proposed ta...
Law Practice
Jump starting in-office collaboration: the Lunch Manifesto
By Louie H. Castoria
Law offices across the nation are facing an eagerly awaited, though complex, decision: whether, and how soon, to reopen their ...
Bankruptcy, Real Estate/Development
Remember, landlords are sacred cows in bankruptcy
By M. Jonathan Hayes
We have been getting a lot of calls recently as you might expect from distressed small businesses. The “free” government money...
Law Practice, Technology
'Bring your own legal algorithm' arising due to AI
By Lance Eliot
Seems like everyone knows about the seemingly astute advice to never bring a knife to a gunfight. A bit of myth-busting can sh...
Environmental & Energy, Government
Restoring California’s leadership in setting tailpipe emission standards
By Lauren Tarpey, Matthew Zinn
In a proposal to reverse a misguided Trump administration policy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on track to rest...
Data Privacy, Environmental & Energy, Government, Technology
After pipeline hack, order encourages cybersecurity updates
By Anita Taff-Rice
Like prior government efforts, the executive order does not directly impose cybersecurity measures on private companies, but i...
In the post-pandemic era, is mediation helping sex harassment victims?
By Tamarah P. Prevost, Kira Simon
The recent predominance of mediations has obvious benefits and drawbacks to litigants in any civil case. But the impact on vic...
Judges and Judiciary, Letters
Profile left out justice’s most admirable trait
By Myron Moskovitz
The Daily Journal’s recent profile of Court of Appeal Justice Jim Richman did not mention his most admirable judicial trait: H...
California Supreme Court, Criminal
2 death penalty rulings, 2 different outcomes
By Dmitry Gorin, Alan Eisner
Two recent death penalty appeals highlight the difficult standard criminal defendants face on appeal to demonstrate that the p...
Bankruptcy, Civil Litigation, Law Practice
Are mega attorney fees in mega Chapter 11s unavoidable?
By Catherine E. Bauer
The recently reported mega attorney fees in the mega NRA and Boy Scout Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases made me think of the end of...
Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court
What to expect from the Supreme Court
By Erwin Chemerinsky
With oral arguments done in the Supreme Court for this term, what is left is waiting for its rulings. The court heard argument...
Assume you bought a vacant parcel of land in an area built out with single family homes. Assume further that this is a coastal...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Law Practice
Why do pro bono? A matter of attorney ethics
By David M. Majchrzak, Heather L. Rosing
There is a persuasive argument not only that all lawyers should make the time for pro bono work, but there is an ethical respo...
Labor/Employment
Investigating racial bias complaints in the age of ‘cancel culture’
By Daphne Pierre Bishop
For nearly a decade, there has been a groundswell of cultural and social movements seeking to rectify racial injustice, largel...
When seeking high court review, get people and institutions affected by the Court of Appeal opinion to tell the Supreme Court ...
Books this good do not necessarily move rapidly to conclusions.
California Supreme Court, Law Practice, Obituaries
Cruz Reynoso: A man who stood for justice, 1931-2021
By Michael L. Stern
My friend Cruz Reynoso, the first Latino to serve on the California Supreme Court, passed away with dignity this past week at ...
Law Practice
Will lawyers be part of the growth in legal services?
By Lucy B. Ricca, Jason Solomon
The boom days of consumer legal services may be here. And they aren’t coming for lawyers.
Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court gun case could cause seismic shifts
By Glenn C. Smith
A case on the court’s docket for the 2021 term raises potentially far-reaching constitutional issues with obvious implications...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, State Bar & Bar Associations
State Bar is neglecting duty to ensure the MPRE protects public
By William Patton
The State Bar of California’s sale of its ethics examination to the National Conference of Bar Examiners in 1980 and its deleg...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, California Courts of Appeal, Civil Litigation
Ruling will help to safeguard a fair arbitration process
By Benjamin T. Ikuta
Frankly, a decision like Grabowski is long overdue in finding that improper ex parte communications in arbitration can no long...