
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense
Find a Local Lawyer
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402
Legal Pad | LA 

California legal scene carries regional legal news, headlines and information.
Post Frequency: 8.8/day Last Entry: October 04, 2010 at 16:00:09 Recent Entries: 2352
Go to Legal Pad | LA, find other Legal News blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Former chief prosecutor for air quality joins Jeffer Mangels
Posted on July 31, 2008Peter Mieras, former chief prosecutor of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, joined Los Angeles-based Jeffer Mangels as of counsel. Mieras was chief prosecutor for the district for 12 years and principal deputy district prosecutor for six, working on...
Mukasey: No one at DOJ, White House consulted in closure of L.A. public corruption unit
Posted on July 30, 2008Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has been exchanging letters with Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey's office, as she raises questions about the sudden closure of the public corruption unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles in March, the L.A. Times...
Judge rules cellphone carriers' early termination fees likely violate state law
Posted on July 30, 2008Charging customers fees for breaking their cell-phone service contracts early likely violates state law, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw ruled. Sabraw found that Sprint Nextel Corp. must pay $ 73.1 million - $18.3 million to customers who sued...
Alston & Bird acquires L.A.'s Weston Benshoof
Posted on July 30, 2008Atlanta law firm Alston & Bird acquired L.A.-based Weston Benshoof. The merger gives Alston its first two offices in California, in Los Angeles and Westlake Village, and 83 local attorneys specializing in litigation, real estate development and environmental law...
Judge rules donor can't post bail for Wilkes anonymously
Posted on July 30, 2008People donate to charities anonymously. How about anonymously posting bail for someone? U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ruled that former defense contractors Brent Wilkes can't have his bail posted by an anonymous donor while he appeals his conviction of conspiracy,...
Immigrants in deportation cases must get bond hearings
Posted on July 30, 2008The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that bond hearings must be granted to immigrants being held for prolonged periods in deportation cases, the ABA Journal reported (here). "We hold that the government may not detain a legal permanent resident...
Judge rules Mount Soledad cross doesn't violate U.S. Constitution
Posted on July 30, 2008U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ruled yesterday that a cross sitting atop Mount Soledad doesn't violate the U.S. Constitution because it has secular value, pays tribune to veterans and is historically significant to San Diego, 10 News reported. The lawsuit...
Prosecutors won't pursue claim of rigged Lakers' game
Posted on July 30, 2008Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles won't pursue allegations that a 2002 playoff game between Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings was manipulated by referees, an anonymous law enforcement source told Newsday (here). The district attorney's office determined last month...
Earthquake doesn't faze law firms, or first day of bar exam
Posted on July 30, 2008A magnitude 5.4 earthquake that rattled the Los Angeles area on Tuesday caused minor disruptions for lawyers in downtown and for students taking the California bar exam at sites near the epicenter. The earthquake's epicenter was about 30 miles southeast...
A nervous moment for Kozinski and the 9th Circuit conference
Posted on July 30, 2008The cocktail party at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conference had a nervous moment Monday when a Beverly Hills, Calif., attorney and critic of Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, was escorted from the outdoors reception after getting too...
John Yoo, author of 'torture memos,' misses chance to mix it up with 9th Circuit
Posted on July 30, 2008John Yoo, author of what have become known as the torture memos (part 1, part 2) while in the Office of Legal Counsel, was "detained at the Oakland Airport for six hours" and missed an opportunity to address the 9th...
Orrick agrees to pay $2.8 million to settle San Diego malpractice suit
Posted on July 30, 2008Orrick Herrington agreed to pay $2.8 million to the city of San Diego to settle a malpractice suit over the city's pension fund scandal, The American Lawyer reported. The city charged Orrick with failing to disclose the extent of the...
IP litigator Shawn McDonald joins Sheppard Mullin as special counsel
Posted on July 30, 2008Intellectual property litigator Shawn McDonald joined Sheppard Mullin's Del Mar Heights office as a special counsel. McDonald focuses on patent litigation involving automotive fuel systems,electronic power converters, semiconductor manufacturing, arterialstent-grafts, spinal implants, lighting fixtures, antidepressants,analgesics, gypsum wallboard and electronic dispensers...
Hippies, sword-wielding Mongols and the 9th Circuit's image problem
Posted on July 29, 2008Judge Jay S. Bybee tried to make light of the divergence of views on the law between the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court in the opening session of the circuit's judicial conference rundown of...
Entertainment attorneys form Mason Miller firm in L.A.
Posted on July 29, 2008John Mason and Darrell Miller formed a new entertainment law firm in Los Angeles to represent people in entertainment, sports and lifestyle industries. Mason and Miller have previously represented some famous actors and musicians. Entertainment attorneys Deborah Wagon and Jonathan...
Kozinski, facing disciplinary inquiry, to keep low profile at conference
Posted on July 29, 2008Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, facing a discipline inquiry over discovery he had sexually explicit photographs on a personal Web site, has scrubbed his public appearances for the circuit conference this week in...
AG Brown tweaks wording in initiative to ban same-sex marriage
Posted on July 29, 2008California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown tweaked the wording of the summary of Prop. 8 to go before voters, the Los Angeles Times reported. Supporters of the initiative, which proposes a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, say it would....
California becomes first state to ban trans fats
Posted on July 28, 2008California became the first state to ban trans fats from restaurant food on Friday, the Associated Press reported. Violations by food facilities will be met with fines from $25 to $1,000. The law goes into effect in 2010. While the...
Jose Patiño joins Jones Day's San Diego office as partner
Posted on July 28, 2008Intellectual property litigator Joe Patiño joined Jones Day's San Diego office as a partner. Patiño, who was previously at Morrison & Foerster, represents companies in commercial and intellectual property disputes. He has also written and published numerous articles and legal...
Class action properly removed to state court
Posted on July 28, 2008Although the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 allowed the removal to federal court of large class actions with diverse parties, it did not supersede the specific bar against removal of state actions involving only state claims in 22(a) of...
Litigator Joshua Wayser joins Katten Muchin as a partner
Posted on July 28, 2008Joshua Wayser joined Katten Muchin's Los Angeles office as a partner. Wayser will represents lender, developers and property owners in real estate litigation. He'll also co-chair Katten's LGBT Coalition. Outside of the firm, Wayser volunteers at the Gay and Lesbian...
Paul Li, the first director of state judicial center, dies at 70
Posted on July 28, 2008Paul Li, the first director of California Center for Judicial Education and Research, died after a brief bout with cancer on July 12, The Recorder reported. He was 70. Li directed CJER from 1973 to 1993. He was a founding...
False report of romance between Carona and federal prosecutor got all 250 L.A. prosecutors disqualified
Posted on July 25, 2008All the prosecutors at the U.S. attorney's offices in Los Angeles and Santa Ana were disqualified from handling former Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona's public corruption case, except for two who report to supervisors in Washington, D.C. Why? Because of...
Inglewood mayor Roosevelt Dorn pleads not guilty
Posted on July 25, 2008Inglewood mayor Roosevelt Dorn plead not guilty to conflict of interest and misappropriation of $500,000 in public funds stemming, the Los Angeles Times reported (here). Dorn, a former Municipal and Superior Court judge and assistant L.A. city attorney, is charged...
L.A. County has most hate crimes in five years, study finds
Posted on July 25, 2008Hate crimes reported in Los Angeles County were at the highest level in five years in 2007, despite crime dropping by 6 percent, finds a report by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. Hate crimes increased by 28...
Divorce attorney testifies about privileged conversations in Christensen wire tap trial
Posted on July 25, 2008Prominent divorce attorney Stephen A. Kolodny testified on Thursday about the privileged conversations he had with his client in a high profile child support dispute in 2002 in which Terry Christensen, who is facing his second week of trial on...
L.A. lawyer may face federal charges, claims they're for Bush bashing
Posted on July 24, 2008It looks like federal prosecutors will indict Los Angeles trial lawyer Pierce O'Donnell on criminal campaign finance charges, the L.A. Times reported. A federal grand jury is looking into whether O'Donnell violated federal campaign laws when he asked law firm...
U.S. District Judge Manuel Real is removed from Honda class action
Posted on July 24, 2008A federal appeals court removed the controversial U.S. District Judge Manuel Real of Los Angeles from a significant multidistrict class action against American Honda Motor Co. Inc. and ordered a new judge assigned. The order is the second this year...
Ford rollover case heads to Calif. high court
Posted on July 24, 2008The California Supreme Court granted review of an Explorer rollover case that awarded $82 million against Ford Motor Co. Ford is seeking to overturn the verdict after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting how much a defendant's harm to...
L.A. sues over 30 major Wall Street financial institutions and bond insurers
Posted on July 24, 2008Los Angeles is suing some of the nations largest banks on allegations that they conspired to minimize the returns the city received after investing its bonds in financial instruments called derivatives, The Recorder reported (here). The lawsuit alleges fraud, deceit...
Previous | Next
Update on AILF's Legal Action Center Visa Bulletin Litigation (Updated 7/10/07)
The following is the latest update from AILF regarding its pening ...
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center Legislative Forecast
The ILRC Forecast on Immigration ReformJudith Golub, Executive Dir...
The Christian Legal Society and "discrimation": Response to Susan
In response to Susan's post, I'm inclined to think that, yes, the ...
Stacy Scnheider Legal Commentator Apprentice
Catholic Legal Theory and life and death
Tom Berg’s question regarding the propriety or not of capital pu...
Pre-paid Leagal Services
What are Prepaid Legal Benefit Plans
Legal Forms
Business and Commercial Legal Forms
Best Law Movies
Greatest Legal Movies selected by ABA Journal
Law & Order Depicts Police Procedures and Criminal Justice
Accuracy of Criminal Justice Depiction on Television
Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...
The company I worked for forced me to quit instead of dealing with someone harassing me, what can I do?
Look up CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE...................this looks like what happened t...

Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...
The company I worked for forced me to quit instead of dealing with someone harassing me, what can I do?
Look up CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE...................this looks like what happened t...








