Labor/Employment
NLRB undermines the ‘heart’ of Section 7 protected activity
By Dennis F. Moss, Jeremy F. Bollinger
Imagine that your client learns in the course of a workplace arbitration where she was awarded $500,000 that a company owner h...
Environmental & Energy, U.S. Supreme Court
What is a “Water of the United States?”
By Marc R. Bruner
Courts are already issuing conflicting decisions in litigation involving the new WOTUS regulations.
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Judges and Judiciary
Judicial ethics and independence must guide judges’ responses to racial injustice
By Noël Wise, Monica F. Wiley
In California the judge’s Oath of Office begins, “I solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the Unit...
Law Practice
A remote perspective on Johnny Depp’s libel action
By Alexander Rufus-Isaacs
For three weeks in July, the main conference room at the Beverly Hills Bar Association functioned as an extension of England’s...
Here are some pointers on how to avoid putting a foot in your mouth when the judge says, “Cross-examination, please.”
The number one driver of nuclear verdicts is juror anger. The challenge for defense lawyers is to figure out how to defuse tha...
Civil Rights, Health Care & Hospital Law, U.S. Supreme Court
Birth control ruling affects low income, minority people most
By Kimya Forouzan
On July 8, the Supreme Court issued a blow to the ongoing fight for birth control access. The case in question involved a rule...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Civil Litigation, Law Practice
Reassessing litigation in a pandemic: 4 questions worth asking
By Mark LeHocky
A former general counsel and litigator turned mediator's take on potential rude awakenings and steps to avoid them.
Books, Civil Rights
A gay rights prophet: The story of activist Frank Kameny
By Richard Wirick
In his new book, “The Deviant’s War,” Eric Cervini chronicles how Kameny’s sheer determination began to chip away at homosexu...
Will California courts enforce federal forum selection clauses?
By Joshua Hess, David Kotler
The first test of whether corporate “federal forum selection” clauses will be enforced by California courts will occur on Frid...
Civil Litigation
Trends emerge under Northern District’s class settlement guidelines
By Darren K. Cottriel, Ann T. Rossum
In November 2018, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California adopted the Procedural Guidance for...
Labor/Employment
Post-Janus power shift of California’s private and public sector unions
By Che I. Johnson, Kevin J. Chicas
As private sector management rights grow, public sector employers are seeing a growing imbalance.
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, State Bar & Bar Associations
The State Bar of California’s confused crusade against LegalMatch
By Ellen A. Pansky, Carl I.S. Mueller
In order to improve access to legal services, the State Bar should promote the use of online attorney referral and matching sy...
Civil Litigation, Consumer Law, Letters
Auto manufacturers: avoid lemon law liability by complying with it
By Elliot J. Conn
The July 27 column, “Time to end systematic abuse of California’s lemon law,” authored by two Hyundai Motor America in-house c...
Civil Litigation, Government
Trump’s efforts to suppress speech are deeper than you thought
By Joe Slaughter
In important ways, the John Bolton and Mary Trump cases are not representative of the broader ongoing efforts of Trump and his...
In part overshadowed by fears of COVID-19, the homelessness situation in Los Angeles and beyond is far from easing up. Once t...
Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court
Time to reconsider Jacobson?
By Scott J. Street
Religion continued its losing streak against the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Supreme Court over the weekend, as the court re...
Labor/Employment
Don’t get caught without an Injury and Illness Prevention Plan
By Colin Calvert
Those that do not comply with the state’s evolving guidance on workplace safety and health will likely be subject to citations...
California Supreme Court, Family
Brace for impact: The death of the title presumption in community property
By Christopher C. Melcher
Knowing when an asset or liability is community or separate property is essential, not just in a divorce but also in debtor-cr...
When implementing modern-day technology for law practices and the courts, there is an oft-used line known to insiders that com...
Banking, Corporate, Securities
Amendments to Volcker Rule open the door to banking investments in venture capital funds
By Michael L. Lawhead
The rule restricts the ability of banking entities to engage in proprietary trading or to have certain interests in, or relati...
A PIPE, or private investment in public equity, is a private placement transaction executed in accordance with the Section 4(a...
Law Practice
Managing COVID-19’s second wave of disruption for your law firm
By Daniel O'Rielly, Dena Roche
Another wave of change is coming. We think of it as analogous to the aftershocks of an earthquake: They happen after the big e...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Government
Members of DC Bar file ethics complaint against Barr
By John H. Minan
The fact that the Department of Justice is used to carry out the president’s broad policy preferences is neither surprising no...
For those who have either forgotten or don’t keep up with takings law, Kelo v. New London was the bombshell case in which a 5-...
Civil Litigation, Consumer Law
Time to end systematic abuse of California’s lemon law
By Thomas N. Vanderford Jr., Zhanna Bulkina
In the midst of the current global pandemic, California’s state courts have been severely impacted. Now, more than ever, it is...
The object of this article and accompanying self-study test is to familiarize readers with procedures under the Government Cla...
California Supreme Court, Civil Litigation, Land Use
Ruling draws artificial distinction between eminent domain and inverse condemnation
By Mark S. Roth
The court’s rationale is that motions under that statute are limited to eminent domain actions and other remedies, such as sum...
Law Practice, State Bar & Bar Associations
Rural California suffers a painful shortage of lawyers
By Lisa R. Pruitt, Kelly V. Beskin
Although about a fifth of the nation’s population lives in rural areas, these places are home to only 2% of small law practice...
Criminal, Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Government
Ethics rule could reduce conflicts of interest for prosecutors
By Diana Becton, Chesa Boudin
In the wake of the recent killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others in California and beyo...