U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Government, Labor/Employment
Time to overrule Abood
The U.S. Supreme Court described laws that empower unions to coerce funds from non-union members as an “extraordinary state en...
Civil Rights, Criminal
Crime and algorithms
There is a cost to be paid for the myriad benefits society derives from the use of algorithms. An occasional “date from hell,”...
Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, U.S. Supreme Court
Another take on Cake at the US high court
So here’s where we are in Masterpiece Cakeshop: The lineup of eight of the justices is pretty clear, 4-to-4.
California Supreme Court, Government, Administrative/Regulatory
A city manager’s personal cellphone buzzes in the early morning hours with notice of a string of urgent texts advising about t...
Government, Administrative/Regulatory, Corporate, Securities
SEC announces creation of new ‘Cyber Unit’
Chairman Jay Clayton of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reaffirmed that “[c]ybersecurity is an area that is vi...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal
High court should clarify scope of CFAA
The justices should take up U.S. v. Nosal to clarify the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act -- the statute was intended...
California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Carpenter v. United States implicates what is known as the third-party doctrine, under which any information voluntarily provi...
Over the summer, Oregon federal public defenders asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review Mohamud v. United States, a terrorism ...
Real Estate/Development
A primer on how the attorney-client privilege functions in the realm of trust administration. By Benjamin D. Fox
Corporate
Delaware update: amendments to General Corporation Law
Two recent amendments have important practical implications for private corporations and create a framework for significant ch...
Civil Litigation
Is a Non-Party's Contact Information Private?
When a class action litigant seeks to discover contact information for a third party--often with respect to potential class me...
Labor/Employment
At a recent business lunch, I was surprised to hear that many attendees (most of whom are practicing attorneys) pay their chil...
Civil Litigation, Government, Tax, California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal
It just got easier to pass local taxes
Time will tell what a recent state high court decision means for local taxation. But it appears to make it easier to pass loca...
Intellectual Property, Corporate
Choosing the right name for your company from a branding perspective is important. Equally important, however, is avoiding a n...
Administrative/Regulatory, Transportation
While fully autonomous “level 5” vehicles are still some time out, scores of automakers are already introducing level 2 (parti...
Civil Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Navigating Riverside’s complex departments
For years, complex civil matters in Riverside County were somewhat randomly distributed to departments throughout the county.
Constitutional Law, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative/Regulatory, U.S. Supreme Court
Saving fishers from California’s discrimination
The U.S. Supreme Court has a chance to set things right by granting certiorari in a case involving California’s commercial fis...
Securities, Administrative/Regulatory, Civil Litigation
Life sciences companies under attack by plaintiffs' bar
According to Cornerstone Research, at midyear the number of filings against pharmaceutical companies already had eclipsed the ...
Corporate, Contracts
Invasion of the smart contract hackers
Many see the blockchain as the wild west of today’s technology sector due to its disruptive potential. As a result, developers...
Government, Law Practice
Presenting at local government meetings 101
As a practicing city attorney, I sit through many hours of public meetings. I’ve probably seen just about everything from the ...
There a several reasons for each of us in legal education and in the profession to broaden our own perspectives and evaluation...
Intellectual Property, Contracts, Corporate, Health Care & Hospital Law, Civil Litigation, U.S. Supreme Court
The biosimilar patent dance: When in doubt, list it
For all the reference product sponsors about to enter into a patent dance under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovatio...
U.S. Supreme Court, Appellate Practice, California Supreme Court, Judges and Judiciary, Civil Litigation
Tailoring the Emperor’s New Clothes
Precedent sometimes rests upon a legal fiction, and persists until a later decision exposes the fiction for what it is.
Judges and Judiciary, Civil Litigation, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Appellate Practice
Dos and Don’ts in the 9th Circuit
If Special Counsel Robert Mueller has opened a grand jury investigation, the witch has fallen from her broom and the dogs are ...
Health Care & Hospital Law
"Mindfulness" may be a buzzword these days, but it may also light the path to improving professional competence.
Corporate, Environmental & Energy
Bills leave unresolved cap-and-trade issues
The extension of the cap-and-trade program is a major milestone for the state’s greenhouse gas reduction program. However, it ...
Mergers & Acquisitions
A quick guide to VC investment in Germany
While U.S. VC activity appears to be in the middle of a self-correction period, the German venture market almost doubled in th...
Corporate, Intellectual Property
Many businesses, especially those in the tech sector, spend a great deal of time and money obtaining patents to protect their ...
Lithium — the natural resource mined from the Earth’s crust — is perhaps the best-known commodity that people know the least a...