California

New telecommuting policy says lawyer working for US court can’t live in Switzerland

News that some state court workers in California were working at home—in Minnesota, Maryland and Switzerland—has led to a stricter policy on telecommuting. Last week, the Judicial Council prohibited those with supervisory duties at the Administrative Office of the Courts in San Francisco from working out of their homes and…

Mar 4, 2013 7:54 PM CST

‘Girls Gone Wild’ company files for bankruptcy to deal with ‘frivolous and burdensome legal affairs’

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the company that produces the racy Girls Gone Wild videos was apparently prompted by large judgments in several tort cases. However, GGW Brands LLC said in a written statement that its Wednesday filing in federal bankruptcy court in Los Angeles would not prevent the…

Mar 1, 2013 6:27 PM CST

Keep yer pants on: San Francisco bans public nudity

Chipping away at San Francisco’s free-spirited reputation, the city’s Board of Supervisors narrowly approved a ban on public nudity in November. The ordinance was introduced by Supervisor Scott … ahem … Wiener, who represents the predominantly gay Castro District. His constituents had been complaining that public nudity was no longer…

Mar 1, 2013 10:10 AM CST

Forbidden to randomly seize unattended homeless belongings, city asks SCOTUS to overturn ruling

The city of Los Angeles is expected to ask the U.S. Supreme Court today to overturn an injunction preventing the removal and destruction of personal property left unattended on sidewalks by the homeless, the Los Angeles Times reports. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction…

Feb 28, 2013 10:04 PM CST

Prosecutorial misconduct allegations get huge ‘robo-signing’ case dismissed

A massive mortgage fraud case against two California title officers has been dismissed over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct by the Nevada attorney general’s office. Lawyers for the two defendants claimed that prosecutors in the attorney general’s office gave a grand jury an improper definition of what constitutes forgery and threatened…

Feb 28, 2013 6:57 PM CST

Due to looming federal budget cuts, some immigration detainees are released nationwide

Federal immigration officials say they have been releasing an unspecified number of detainees being held for deportation because of massive mandatory budget cuts that are scheduled to begin Friday if Congress doesn’t act in the meantime to prevent them. Although a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman says those let…

Feb 26, 2013 10:15 PM CST

Bombshell tape found during cop-murder trial sparks plea deal, but both defendants balk

Updated: Dennis Escobar got an unexpected reprieve last week for the second time in a first-degree murder case for the slaying of a Miami police officer in 1988. An unlabeled audiotape, found Feb. 17 by a retired city homicide detective going through an evidence box as he prepared to testify,…

Feb 25, 2013 5:00 PM CST

Police deem lawyer’s accidental lockup an ‘unfortunate incident’

A California lawyer was locked up for four hours in a visiting room at the San Diego jail last Tuesday in an accidental incarceration that police attribute to “a breakdown in communication.” Vista lawyer Erubey Lopez went to the jail to visit a client, but four hours passed with no…

Feb 25, 2013 12:35 PM CST

As ‘super firm’ profits soar, others boost revenue by shrinking partner ranks

Some California law firms are seeing profits soar simply by being at the top of their game. But others, trying to compete with “super firms” such as Latham & Watkins and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Silicon Valley powerhouses such as Cooley, are boosting reported profits by reducing the…

Feb 19, 2013 9:21 PM CST

Cooley recruits co-chair of Sheppard Mullin corporate group for growing LA office

A mergers and acquisitions specialist who co-chairs the corporate practice group of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton is joining Cooley’s growing Los Angeles area office, along with another corporate partner from the firm. Established less than a year ago, the office now has nearly 20 lawyers, including new hires Thomas…

Feb 19, 2013 4:35 PM CST

Judge rules city must leave legal fight to keep feds from closing medical marijuana dispensary

A federal magistrate judge on Thursday dismissed a challenge from the city of Oakland, Calif., of federal authority in shutting down a medical marijuana dispensary, the Oakland Tribune reports. But that just moves the city out of the picture. Forfeiture suits against two Harborside Health Center locations on the same…

Feb 15, 2013 9:24 PM CST

Reports: Driver’s license of fugitive ex-cop accused in slayings is found with body in burned cabin

A manhunt for a former Los Angeles police officer that has been ongoing for over a week apparently ended Tuesday night in a fiery blaze after authorities began using a special armored vehicle to peel off the walls of a mountainside cabin following a gun battle, the deployment of tear…

Feb 13, 2013 6:04 PM CST

3-strike sentences cut for 5 inmates, judge reconsiders life terms of more than 1,000 others

A California judge has reduced punishments for five inmates convicted of relatively minor crimes. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan is responsible for reconsidering the life prison terms of more than 1,000 offenders sentenced for non-serious and nonviolent offenses, under the recently approved Proposition 36, the Los…

Feb 13, 2013 4:00 PM CST

Did Charles Manson commit more ‘Helter Skelter’ murders? Lawyer’s tape suggests he may have

As California’s governor mulls a state parole board recommendation that could result in the first release of a convicted member of the notorious Charles Manson “family” responsible for the “Helter Skelter” murders of actress Sharon Tate and others during the late 1960s, a lawyer’s audiotape is raising questions about whether…

Feb 11, 2013 10:45 PM CST

Record $1M reward in manhunt for fired LAPD officer; city will reinvestigate his job termination

Vowing to end a “reign of terror” authorities blame on a former Los Angeles police officer allegedly taking revenge for being terminated from his job, the city’s mayor announced at a press conference on Sunday that a $1 million reward is being offered for information leaded to the arrest and…

Feb 11, 2013 4:45 PM CST