California

Justice Sotomayor says she’s tired and working harder than ever, but she’s not giving up

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor told law students Monday that the Supreme Court is hearing bigger and more demanding cases while also dealing with a busy emergency calendar.

Jan 30, 2024 11:31 AM CST

Judge orders return of photographed legal documents taken by officers in raid of BLM attorney’s home

A Los Angeles judge has ordered police to return or destroy photographs that they took of legal documents in a search last week of the home of an attorney representing a leader of Black Lives Matter.

Jan 30, 2024 10:48 AM CST

Victim advocate fired after copying district attorney’s office on ‘panties’ email

A victim advocate in the San Francisco district attorney’s office was fired Friday for sending an email copied to the entire office that read, “What color panties you have on.”

Jan 30, 2024 9:50 AM CST

Client escapes sanction for lawyer’s refusal to appear on camera in Zoom deposition

A client won’t have to pay a sanction of nearly $10,000 for his lawyer’s refusal to appear on camera during a remote deposition, a California appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Jan 25, 2024 12:01 PM CST

Lawyers should take these precautions when using artificial intelligence, Florida ethics opinion says

Generative artificial intelligence—which can generate new content based on a prompt—has the potential to “dramatically improve the efficiency of a lawyer’s practice,” but it also can pose ethical concerns, according to a Florida Bar ethics opinion approved Jan. 19.

Jan 23, 2024 12:28 PM CST

Judge sticks with $268K sanction for fake news article lawyer filed with appeals court

A federal judge in California is requiring a Seattle lawyer to pay $251,000 in attorney fees and nearly $17,000 in interest for filing a fake news story with a federal appeals court in San Francisco.

Jan 10, 2024 8:18 AM CST

Former BigLaw partner gets suspension over side law practice

A former Crowell & Moring partner has been suspended in New York for running a side law practice in violation of his partnership agreement and for underreporting the side income to tax authorities.

Jan 9, 2024 8:59 AM CST

Disbarred lawyer married to ‘Real Housewives’ star found competent to stand trial for alleged $15M embezzlement

Disbarred plaintiffs lawyer Tom Girardi has been found competent to stand trial in Los Angeles for allegedly stealing $15 million from clients.

Jan 4, 2024 2:24 PM CST

9th Circuit reinstates suit by now-grown-up Nirvana album-cover baby

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed that he was a victim of child pornography because he appeared naked on Nirvana’s 1991 grunge album cover Nevermind when he was a baby.

Dec 22, 2023 11:37 AM CST

These 3 organizations are using innovative methods to help older youths in foster care

In our final story of the year for our Children & the Law series, we are focusing on the needs of older foster youths about to transition out of care and what supports and services make a difference in their lives. Here are three ways that organizations around the country are helping with this essential work.

Dec 18, 2023 8:22 AM CST

California bar examiners committee withdraws Peoples College of Law registration, ends degree-granting program

Updated: After 15 years of noncompliance issues, the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners made “a first-of-its kind move” by withdrawing the Peoples College of Law’s registration and terminating its degree-granting authority, according to a Dec. 14 release.

Dec 15, 2023 12:28 PM CST

Meet Peter Park, possibly youngest person to pass California bar

At 18 years old, Peter Park is already working as an assistant district attorney in Tulare County, California. Park was only 17 years old when he passed the California bar exam on his first try.

Dec 12, 2023 9:21 AM CST

Judge approves settlement banning immigrant family separations at border for 8 years

The type of zero-tolerance immigration policy that led to family separations can’t be reinstated by the federal government for the next eight years under a settlement approved Friday by a judge in California.

Dec 11, 2023 11:38 AM CST

‘Nuclear verdicts’ and ‘litigation tourism’ are partly why these state courts are top ‘judicial hellholes,’ report says

Courts in Georgia and Pennsylvania are named as top "judicial hellholes" for their friendliness to tort plaintiffs in a report by the American Tort Reform Foundation.

Dec 8, 2023 2:13 PM CST

ABA Legal Ed council rejects Golden Gate University’s plan to end its JD program

After years of struggling to meet the ABA’s accreditation standards and financial woes, Golden Gate University School of Law announced it will discontinue its juris doctorate program when this academic year ends. However, the ABA Legal Ed council rejected the plan because it “did not include sufficient detail relating to the operation of a teach-out.”

Dec 1, 2023 1:50 PM CST