This year was a key moment for the bar exam, with changes to the exam and paths to licensure taking place around the country. Here are the top five that caught our attention.
A California judge who said he was almost amused when a “little Chinese woman” stared him down did not rule against her based on ethnic bias, but his comment was “pure stereotyping,” according to two concurring judges in an appellate opinion.
Updated: A federal judge who oversaw one of the criminal cases against Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, is facing a lawsuit alleging that two “heavily intoxicated underage minors” got into a fight in front of the judge’s home during a party there that involved "significant underage drinking," leading to significant injuries for the plaintiff.
A California judge has received a public admonishment partly for flinging court papers at a newbie defense lawyer because he thought that she was shaking her head at him.
The special counsel’s office is opposing motions to dismiss the tax-fraud and gun indictments against Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, arguing that a presidential pardon does not require it.
The California Supreme Court is being asked to automatically expunge records of attorney discipline other than disbarment after eight years, provided that there is no further discipline during that period.
A federal judge in California approved an $8 million settlement Friday in consolidated cases brought against Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe over a 2023 data breach that may have compromised the personal information of more than 638,000 people.
Bar pass rates for the July 2024 bar exam are strong throughout the country. The expectations were high for the class of 2024. In 2021, the year that this class entered law school, applications increased by 13%.
Voters have rejected several progressive prosecutors. Among high-profile races in Florida and California, the only liberal victor was Monique H. Worrell, who reclaimed her position as the Orange-Osceola state attorney in Florida after being ousted in 2023.
Latham & Watkins and its client must pay an attorney-fee sanction for “flagrant violations of a protective order,” according to a federal judge in California.
An ’80s movie was the unlikely inspiration for one partner who took its message to heart. Erika Gasaway heard the message and adapted it when she became a lawyer: “If you think like a partner, you’ll be a partner.” But it was many years later when that missive would become her reality.
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office announced on Thursday that it will request the resentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez, a pair of brothers sentenced in 1996 to life in prison for killing their parents, after new evidence emerged backing the brothers’ defense that they were physically and sexually abused by their father.
Updated: The State Bar of California’s plan to create a new exam enabling the licensing test to be taken remotely, as well as at in-person test centers, has been green-lighted by the California Supreme Court, allowing the first administration of the Kaplan North America-developed test to move forward in February 2025.
