Civil Rights
Disability awareness all day, every day
For judges and attorneys who interact with litigants who have cognitive disabilities, every single day must be disability awar...
Civil Rights
Delay and denial of voting rights in California
In the meantime, some 32,000 people with disabilities in California will be kept from the polls in November. By Thomas F. Cole...
Constitutional Law, Criminal
A federal appellate court recently held that cellphone users do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their cellphon...
Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court
Don't let technology leave privacy behind
A federal appellate court recently held that cellphone users do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their cellphon...
Constitutional Law, Criminal
Don't back government-sanctioned hacking
Congress should support the Stopping Mass Hacking Act and encourage legislative and public scrutiny of remote access searches ...
Civil Litigation
How much money do you want?
If there were an Oscar awarded to the most overlooked provision in the California Code of Civil Procedure, it might go to Sect...
Judges and Judiciary, Civil Litigation
To the dictionary ... and beyond!
Is there a way for a judge to "look up" the ordinary meaning of a word in a statute other than by using a dictionary? The acad...
Judges and Judiciary
Court legal services program appears to violate ADA
Adults with developmental disabilities are receiving deficient legal services in limited conservatorship proceedings. By Thoma...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal
Dueling canons
What if, in a single case, two canons of construction each require a different result? This question may underlie a criminal s...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal
The U.S. Supreme Court's five-page opinion in a recent case may spawn further litigation that will command great public attent...
Expert Advice
The Perils of Filing Jointly
Just because a married couple can file jointly doesn't mean they should. ...
Civil Litigation, Law Practice
Settling a case with a penalty
What are attorneys to do if they wish to compromise a case with an incentive to encourage payment on schedule? For starters, t...
Appellate Practice
Legal system without appeals should raise eyebrows
Our legal system presupposes a considerable number of contested hearings and a fair number of appeals. Appellate courts play a...
Health Care & Hospital Law
Reform long overdue for conservatorship process
The conservatorship process for adults with developmental disabilities is broken. By Thomas F. Coleman ...
Law Office Management
Embrace Parentheticals
Concise arguments may be made using the (oft-ignored) parenthetical. ...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Officer mistake opinion raises questions
When the U.S. Supreme Court held that a traffic stop based on a reasonable mistake of law by a police officer does not violate...
Constitutional Law, U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal
When you can rely on anonymous tips
When may an anonymous tip provide the basis for reasonable suspicion to allow a police officer to stop and briefly detain an i...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Justices taking a look at dog sniffs
When officers stop a car for a traffic violation, they may employ a trained dog to sniff the vehicle for drugs. But how long m...
Criminal, U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Justices consider statutory text limits
Can a person be guilty of federal bank fraud even where his scheme contemplates no deception of a bank? ...
Criminal
In the Supreme Court, plain text means context
In the ordinary criminal case, if an accused's conduct is prohibited by the plain text of a statutory provision, the person is...
Law Office Management
The Urge to Exclaim
In legal writing, don't give in to the urge to exclaim. ...
Law Office Management
Your Own Style
Even in legal writing, find your own style to create compelling communication. ...
Books, Constitutional Law
The Classical Liberal Constitution
Erwin Chemerinsky is impressed and disturbed by Richard Epstein's The Classic Liberal Constitution. ...
U.S. Supreme Court
High court to consider what constitutes a true threat
The case may resolve a split between the 9th Circuit and the California Supreme Court as to whether proof of subjective intent...
U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Crawford v. Washington's interpretation of the Sixth Amendment's confrontation clause made quite a splash when first handed do...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, Constitutional Law
When cops make good faith mistakes
What happens if the officer was mistaken about the facts or the law such that, with the proper information considered, the off...
Criminal, U.S. Supreme Court, Constitutional Law
Ruling may lead to more lifetime bans on gun possession
A recent opinion by the U.S. high court may significantly expand the class of Californians prohibited for life from possessing...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal
Aiding and abetting ruling destined for case books
The U.S. high court recently issued an opinion explicating the elements of a federal aiding and abetting charge, providing the...
U.S. Supreme Court, Criminal, Constitutional Law
On Monday, the U.S. high court granted certiorari in a case in which a litigant's right to a fair trial collides with the law'...
Law Office Management
Where Do We Go from Here?
The U.S. Supreme Court's docket has been filled with blockbuster cases in recent years. Will the upcoming term continue that t...