Administrative/Regulatory, Torts/Personal Injury
“Forever chemicals” shouldn’t be hidden
Beginning in 2025, AB 1817 will prohibit the manufacture, distribution, sale or offer of textile articles containing PFAS. Thi...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Labor/Employment
The 2022 amendment to the Federal Arbitration Act exempts from mandatory arbitration far more than just sexual, gender and pre...
Conflicts between the People and victims are common, and possible serious conflicts may appear at virtually every stage of a c...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Family
The bottom line is that family matters are never simply about money. They’re about competing interests, hurt feelings, and som...
While there isn’t an insolvency requirement for filing bankruptcy, one must ponder why a solvent individual or entity would vo...
As the 60th anniversary of Title VII approaches, it is worth looking back at the judicial standards that have evolved, Califor...
From 2018 through 2022, 69% of personnel cases involving VA employees included allegations of whistleblower retaliation. Durin...
Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court
While the Groff decision constitutes a big change for Title VII religious accommodation claims, California laws and ru...
Lawyers generally are not mathematicians; mistakes in their calculations are common. Rather than point out your opponent’s mis...
Risks associated with summer associate programs arise from the obligation to supervise the inexperienced newcomers, and firm-s...
Intellectual Property, U.S. Supreme Court
Trademark plaintiffs should lean on Jack Daniels Properties and the recent opinion in Hermès to defeat motions to dismiss and ...
For more than 30 years, I was enriched by Judge Arnold Gold’s friendship. He was a person of discriminating taste. He read all...
Letters
Given that large language models are not designed to extract information purely from traditionally reliable sources of legal a...
In the West, we are expected to look people directly in the eye when speaking, which is counterintuitive to cultures with high...
Grappling with evidence is as good as it gets – a sign that judges and lawyers want to get it right.
California Supreme Court
This rule has been a long time coming. According to the State Bar of California News Center, since 2010, California has twice ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
When negotiations stall, it can be due to a reluctance to explore one’s own interests and motivations or insufficient confiden...
Congress has lowered tax rates for songwriters who sell their catalogs and electively take advantage of capital gains treatmen...
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Corporate
What about derivative claims that can only be brought in a federal forum? It seems the tides pull in different directions. Las...
Judges and Judiciary
This first column (with several to follow) focuses on the departmental chiefs charged with the day-to-day running of the eight...
Government, Land Use
Ostensibly part of the Governor's "infrastructure" plan, the bill takes aim at CEQA's disclosure requirements - particularly a...
Wills, Estates & Trusts
While the process of revocation is better understood, the rules for modification under § 15402 continue to be the subject of l...
Insurance
Unfortunately, the insurance industry continues to pursue the sale of policies that rarely provide coverage. In response to th...
The coercive control provisions of the statute provide important safeguards for victims of domestic abuse where the perpetrato...
Intellectual Property, U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Elena Kagan took greatest issue with what she characterized as the Ninth Circuit's undue expansion of the protection o...
If the infringer’s use is not a primary trademark use as a commercial product to identify or distinguish source, and is instea...
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Securities
The Ninth Circuit is set to hear an appeal of dismissal of foreign securities claims for forum non conveniens.
Law Practice
Lewis Brisbois did not reveal these emails out of some desire to raise awareness of racism or sexism. Like a jilted, jealous, ...
We know the applicable law, review the District Judge’s rulings, and learn the facts. If there is bodycam footage, we get it a...