Civil Litigation, U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court to examine discovery rule in FDCPA cases
By Jean-Claude André
Sometimes small cases hit the big stage. Rotkiske v. Klemm began with a debt collection agency filing a complaint in Philadelp...
Labor/Employment
Employers and social media: What is there not to ‘like’?
By Michele Haydel Gehrke
Today’s employers face new challenges regarding their employees’ use of social media that raise important compliance issues. S...
Government, Labor/Employment
Is Dynamex retroactive? What will the California Supreme Court say?
By Chris Micheli
Since Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) on Sept. 18, many Capitol obser...
Shouting and blasting from synagogues to Washington DC
Construction, Civil Litigation
It’s tough to be a concrete supplier under California labor laws
By Garret D. Murai
In 2015, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 219 which amended the state’s prevailing wage law to add Labor Code S...
Letters, Civil Litigation
Legislation won’t fix broken discovery process
By Richard C. Leonard
I read with interest State Sen. Thomas Umberg’s column on Senate Bill 17 aimed at mitigating gamesmanship in civil litigation....
Labor/Employment
Using big data for employment decisions comes with risks
By James M. Finberg
Employers now have access to a great deal of information about applicants and employees from a wide variety of sources, but us...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Law Practice
Balancing ethical duties when a client’s claims lack merit
By Shawn Shaffie
What ethical obligations arise when an attorney is required to withdraw from representation because the client’s claim(s) lack...
Constitutional Law, Government
Let’s get to a point where our elected officials can focus on the long run
By Kris Whitten
For almost three years we have been witnessing the partisan reality show that is our president and Congress.
The First Monday
By Blaine H. Evanson, Lauren M. Blas
The U.S. Supreme Court was largely able to avoid controversy in the cases it decided last term, but when the justices return t...
Civil Rights, Insurance
Conditional settlement demands: defusing third-parties’ tactics
By Albert K. Alikin, Landon Greene
California Supreme Court Justice Otto Kaus once prophetically said, “It seems to me that attorneys who handle policy claims ag...
Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court
What is discrimination because of ‘sex’?
By Rex S. Heinke, Jenna M. Nalchajian
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the issue this week.
Appellate Practice, Civil Litigation
Appellate lawyers in trial courts?
By Myron Moskovitz
Recently, trial attorneys have begun to call me at the outset of a case, while it’s still in the trial court. “This case invol...
California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal, U.S. Supreme Court
Protecting victims in the courtroom is not a violation of the confrontation clause
By Kymberlee C. Stapleton
The state has a compelling interest in encouraging victims to report their abuse so that their assailants can be prosecuted fo...
Law Practice
Will the artificial intelligence please take the stand
By Paul F. Rafferty
As fully autonomous vehicles stuffed with Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) ready to take to our roadways and commandeer the live...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
The taxonomy of mediators
By Michael H. Leb, Paul P. Cheng
Bullies, butterflies, status quo and compliance
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Law Practice
The essential timing of ethical screens to prevent firm disqualification
By Stephanie Yee
Due increasing lateral movement, it is more important than ever that firms take a close look at who they are hiring and how to...
Environmental & Energy, U.S. Supreme Court
Does the CWA cover groundwater? It’s not an easy question
By Steven L. Hoch
Critical amendments in 1972 forever changed the protection of WOTUS. Simply put, it became unlawful for any person to discharg...
Family, Law Practice
Valuing the professional goodwill of an attorney in divorce
By Timothy D. Reuben, Stephanie I. Blum
The courts have struggled with this topic for years, leading to uncertainty and allowing widely varying opinions from forensic...
Intellectual Property, Civil Litigation, U.S. Supreme Court
High court will address split over trademark infringement remedies
By Benjamin L. Wagner, Katherine Harihar
The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil Inc., 18-1233, to resolve a circuit split regardi...
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Legal ethics: from the White House to the doghouse
By A. Marco Turk
Politics aside, how far is a lawyer permitted ethically to go in assisting a client?
Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Law Practice
Navigating the requirements for reporting attorney misconduct
By Shari L. Klevens, Alanna G. Clair
As set forth in Rule 1.0 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct, a primary purpose of rules governing attorney conduc...
Appellate Practice, California Supreme Court, Judges and Judiciary
Justice Goodwin Liu by the numbers
By Kirk C. Jenkins
Today, we pass the halfway point in our ongoing series of data-driven profiles of the justices of the California Supreme Court...
Government
Chinese spying, Chinese-Americans racially profiled — or both?
By Frank H. Wu
The increasing concerns of many Americans about the Chinese has been summed up by FBI Director Christopher Wray as a “whole of...
Criminal, Letters
Presumption of innocence is a trial right only
By Richard J. Chrystie
The Sept. 23 article on bail, “Critics unsure bail changes moving in right direction,” quotes Phil Telfeyan, executive directo...
Administrative/Regulatory, Environmental & Energy, Government
The auto emissions war against California
By Richard M. Frank
The Trump administration’s waiver revocation is unwanted by anyone but President Trump (along with, perhaps, Big Oil, which al...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Law Practice
Bar proposals will upend legal profession
By Erin M. Joyce
The State Bar’s proposals to authorize nonattorneys and for-profit corporations to practice law will upend the legal professio...
Labor/Employment, Civil Litigation
Lawson and the outlook of PAGA litigation in the 2020s
By Kenneth D. Sulzer, Matthew Scholl
For the past 15 years, California employers have been plagued by mass actions brought under the Private Attorneys General Act,...
Intellectual Property, U.S. Supreme Court
Are PTO attorney fees expenses under Section 145?
By B. Todd Patterson, Kyrie K. Cameron
The issue before the Supreme Court is: Whether the phrase “[a]ll the expenses of the proceedings” in Section 145 encompasses t...
Intellectual Property, U.S. Supreme Court
High court to consider appealability issues in IPR proceedings
By Charan Brahma, Craig Crockett
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider appealability of timeliness determinations within inter partes review proceedings under 3...