Op-Eds
Mar 30, 2012
Watching Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye give her State of the Judiciary speech on March 19, two things were clear: 1) The judicial branch is in capable hands under her leadership, and 2) what she doesn't need from the Legislature is to make her job even tougher than it already is.
Oct 27, 2011
Public prosecutors are entrusted with a unique and powerful responsibility. They are given the authority to protect the public interest while maintaining a neutral, impartial commitment to ensuring that justice be done. That is the motivating factor that drives their actions – that justice be done – whether that consists of large financial awards or not.
Aug 15, 2011
Over the past couple weeks there has been some dire news on the major delays Californians can expect to see in our courts as a result of the most recent budget cuts. The 2011-12 budget cuts $350 million from the court system, the largest in state court history.
May 10, 2011
One day about two years ago, Cary Cheldin answered his telephone at work to hear a litany of abuse from the other end. Cheldin owns his own insurance business and the man on the other end was an attorney demanding $13,000 for damage to a 1973 Chevy pick-up truck caused by one of Cheldin's customers.
May 5, 2011
The difficult times for California continue. We’ve all heard the stats – 12 percent unemployment, 4.7 businesses leaving California per week (up from 3.9 per week last year), and a $25 billion budget deficit. We’ve been hearing these types of stats like a broken record for three years now.
Dec 31, 2010
Hopes of the nation’s plaintiffs’ bar soared when the 2008 election delivered a president and Congress they saw aligned with their jackpot justice agenda. Expectations were quickly rewarded when the president signed the so-called Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, loosening a tight federal statute of limitations for gender-based wage discrimination claims.
Oct 13, 2010
Are jobs and the economy issues in the choice of California’s next attorney general? Yes! And here is why.
Oct 8, 2010
Over time, many companies with significant asbestos-related liabilities have filed for bankruptcy, and payments by trusts set up by bankruptcy courts have played an increasingly important role in the compensation of asbestos-related injuries. While the role of trusts in providing compensation to asbestos claimants has grown, information about the operating procedures and activities of these trusts is not readily available in a convenient form.
Sep 17, 2010
On April 30, 2009, a most diverse collection of organizations met, under the cloud of California’s fiscal crisis and budget cuts, at the Administrative Office of the Courts in San Francisco to discuss the increasing backlog in state civil trials.
Jun 15, 2010
In a May 28 op-ed in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, Shareholder Randy Christian and Associate Jason Casell with the firm Clark, Thomas & Winters discuss the “unholy alliance” between plaintiffs’ lawyers and state attorneys general, a practice pioneered by former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales in the big tobacco litigation. In these alliances, state AGs enter into contingency fee arrangements with plaintiffs’ attorneys to prosecute actions on the state’s behalf.
Jan 4, 2010
The 2010 legislative year opens with state lawmakers being forced to play yet another game of Whack-A-Mole.
Aug 31, 2009
Make a list of threats to your job and your health. Layoff, pay cut, swine flu, West Nile virus, for starters. You probably won’t list personal injury lawyers. But you should.
Jan 9, 2009
State leaders reconciling California’s public finances should be doing all they can to promote California’s economic recovery. A start would be to send a powerful message that we genuinely welcome private investment in California employees and the production of goods and services.
Jan 8, 2009
State leaders working on California’s public finances should also be doing all they can to promote California’s economic recovery. A start would be to send a powerful message that we genuinely welcome private investment in California employees and the production of goods and services.
Jan 25, 2008
The very technology that put the Silicon Valley on the map worldwide makes it possible for valley jobs to be relocated anywhere on the globe.
