Law Practice
WHY?
August — the month that many of my readers are on vacation. So why write an August column? Other columnists take off a month o...
We send them there. We break them. Then we take away their benefits.
Our country can uphold both national security and its commitment to refugee protection. Indeed, it's done exactly that for dec...
Constitutional Law, Government
Last month, the San Francisco City Council voted to prohibit city agencies from using facial recognition software on municipal...
Currently pending before the California Supreme Court is an issue that calls into question the motivations of California offic...
Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court
Rub a dub dub
There may now be three justices open to moving away from substantive due process as the basis for incorporating the rights the...
Government
How LA can make an immediate impact on homelessness
In May 2015, The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board asked readers, “Could you live in L.A. on $221 a month?” The answer then, a...
Administrative/Regulatory, Environmental & Energy, Government
Will the wave of PFAS litigation hit California?
In the last year, litigation involving per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances has spiked across the nation. To date this litigati...
They profoundly influence our lives. They can be found all over the world. When not fulfilling their mission, they blend in wi...
Law Practice, Tax
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed at the end of 2017 doubled the estate and gift tax exemption. With much aplomb, it was announ...
Constitutional Law, Government, U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court’s nondelegation ruling settled nothing
On the morning of September 28 last year, Sen. Jeff Flake announced he would be voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. A few hours...
Family, Government, Health Care & Hospital Law, Military Law
Many veterans believe that government benefits are only available if they were wounded in combat or suffer from a disability r...
Community News
LA-ABOTA program update
You won't find a better close-up audience experience to hone your trial skills than by watching and hearing the state's very b...
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Government
Preserve LA’s Dispute Resolution Program
For 30 years -- since Avis Ridley-Thomas founded it in 1989 -- the Dispute Resolution Program has been providing free mediatio...
Real Estate/Development, Government
HUD policy would exacerbate a worsening crisis
Last month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development published a proposed rule which would terminate housing assistance...
Constitutional Law, Judges and Judiciary
An insightful look at state constitutional law
I recently attended a talk by Judge Jeffrey Sutton who sits on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The subject was a book h...
Julian Assange. Bryan Carmody. Each incident is a troubling incursion on First Amendment freedoms. One is a flat-out violation...
Government, Law Practice, Civil Litigation
Does California value public interest litigation?
In the past few years, private advocacy groups that intervene to defend challenged laws have successfully sought hundreds of t...
Contracts, Corporate
As the asset-light business model for hotel companies has become de rigueur, long-term management contracts have taken on incr...
Criminal
Reflections on a life without parole sentence
“What am I supposed to do, just die in prison?” I was seated just outside the dilapidated holding cell adjacent to the courtro...
Judges and Judiciary, Law Practice
A moral dilemma
So am I going to go ahead with my novel? I’m thinking about it.
Administrative/Regulatory, Environmental & Energy
To produce sufficient food and fiber to feed California, the nation and the world, Central Valley farmers use synthetic and o...
From ancient times, people have erected statues celebrating significant figures of their eras. As times change, such monuments...
Civil Rights
Breaking the code of silence
Imagine being a teenage girl and locked up in a juvenile detention facility. Now imagine being sexually assaulted up to 10 tim...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Mediators persist in efforts to rebuild and renew. The destroyers and innovative creators of the last 856 years in the evolvin...
Constitutional Law
Property owners have the right to a fair hearing first
There’s a legitimate debate about how best to balance public coastal access with private property rights. But there should be ...
State Bar & Bar Associations, Law Practice
California lawyers married to a military spouse
Yet another example of the sacrifices military families make
State Bar & Bar Associations, Judges and Judiciary
On April 17, the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association will celebrate its Forty Fourth Anniversary at a dinner at th...
“Our Selma” is an apt description of this person we so love and respect. This affectionate possessive was how retired Supreme ...
Civil Rights, Law Practice
A right to counsel in evictions: LA can do it too
New York did it. San Francisco and Newark did it. Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Connecticut and other jurisdictions are considerin...