California

Record-Breaking Donor Ups Ante at UCLA’s Williams Institute

The leading donor to UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute has reportedly pledged another $2 million to its endowment. The groundbreaking think tank focuses its research on sexual orientation law and policy, with the goal of promoting fair and informed U.S. jurisprudence and public policy. With the latest $2 million…

Feb 11, 2008 7:22 PM CST

Subprime Fallout Takes Center Stage at ABA Midyear

Some ABA sections get all the glory when the news media covers programs at the ABA midyear and annual meetings. The ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities is known for leaping into controversial issues, and the ABA Criminal Justice Section often finds a case in the news as the…

Feb 7, 2008 3:07 PM CST

Judge Gives Defamation Plaintiffs More Time in Suit Against Dr. Phil

A judge has refused to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw by two brothers questioned in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Superior Court Judge Edward Ferns gave lawyers for brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe an extra five days to produce documents about the criminal investigation…

Feb 6, 2008 1:29 PM CST

States Seek Unclaimed Property for Themselves, Owners Sue

Once upon a time, legislatures throughout the country enacted unclaimed property laws intended to make sure that banks and other companies holding assets that the owners seemed to have forgotten about made efforts to notify them. But today a growing number of states are making it more difficult for owners…

Feb 4, 2008 11:22 PM CST

Fewer Law Firm Options for New Grads?

Some say they couldn’t find law firm jobs. Others say they didn’t want to. But the bottom line for a small fraction of the nation’s newly minted law school graduates is a nontraditional business job that has only a peripheral connection, at best, to practicing law, reports the Recorder (sub.…

Feb 4, 2008 8:25 PM CST

Roy Tolles, Old-School Founder of Leading Law Firm, Dies at 85

Edwin Leroy Tolles, a renowned California attorney who founded a leading Los Angeles law firm, has died. He was 85. A gentleman of the old school who founded and ran the law firm now known as Munger, Tolles & Olson while simultaneously devoting himself to family life, Roy Tolles is…

Feb 4, 2008 7:40 PM CST

City Sues Man For Canceling Trash Pickup Service

The city of San Carlos, Calif., is suing one of its residents—an avid recycler—because he’s no longer in need of the city’s garbage-collection service. Served with the lawsuit at his home on Sunday, 53-year-old Eddie House told the San Francisco Examiner that he was shocked by the suit. “I don’t…

Jan 31, 2008 10:49 PM CST

Calif. High Court Agrees to Hear Google Age Discrimination Case

California’s Supreme Court has agreed to take on an age discrimination suit against Google by a man who claims he was marginalized and his job eliminated. The 58-year-old plaintiff, Brian Reid, claims younger co-workers referred to him as “old man” and “fuddy-duddy,” Financial Week reports. Google has stated that Reid,…

Jan 31, 2008 10:34 PM CST

Lerach Wants Sentencing Brief Sealed

Securities class-action lawyer William Lerach hasn’t been shy about his opinions on issues such as sweetheart deals for corporate CEOs and the federal government’s policing of insider trading. He wrote newspaper commentaries on those subjects, but now he wants to keep his legal brief secret regarding his sentence for paying…

Jan 31, 2008 4:15 PM CST

Coughlin Stoia Forms IP Group With Two Duane Morris Lawyers

Securities class-action powerhouse Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins has announced formation of a practice group in Atlanta to pursue patent litigation. The group will represent inventors and universities in suits against corporations, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Darren Robbins, a founding partner of the San Diego firm, said the…

Jan 31, 2008 3:33 PM CST

Silicon Valley Couple Leads Perkins Group to King & Spaulding

A husband-and-wife team is leading a team from Perkins Coie in Silicon Valley to a new office for Atlanta-based King & Spaulding. The couple—partners Paul Andre and Lisa Kobialka—are leaving with a group of associates, the California Recorder reports in a story posted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.). Andre…

Jan 30, 2008 7:01 PM CST

Hollywood Lawyer, Wife Sentenced in Domestic Slavery Case

Former Sony Pictures VP of legal affairs James Jackson and his wife were sentenced Monday for holding their live-in maid in forced labor. Jackson received 200 hours of community service and fined $5,000, while his wife Elizabeth was sentenced to three years in prison, according to the Los Angeles Times…

Jan 29, 2008 6:27 PM CST

Lawyer Sentenced to Home Detention for Taking Cash to Be a Plaintiff

A retired lawyer and client of Milberg Weiss has received a sentence of six months of home detention and two years of probation after his guilty plea to taking kickbacks from the firm. Seymour Lazar, 80, was the first to be sentenced in the case, the Los Angeles Times reports.…

Jan 29, 2008 3:38 PM CST

Pro Bono for Defendant Who Earns $200K? Jones Day Says Yes

The former sheriff of Orange County is getting just about the best defense money can buy. Only he won’t have to pay much. Megafirm Jones Day is taking Michael S. Carona as a pro bono client, defending him on charges that he sold access to his office for cash, favors…

Jan 28, 2008 9:18 PM CST

Ariz. Drivers Can Get ‘Choose Life’ Plates

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said today that Arizona motorists can have specialty state license plates that contain anti-abortion messages. The unanimous decision (PDF) by the San Francisco-based court reverses rulings by a federal trial judge and Arizona’s License Plate Commission, according to Capitol Media Services. The Arizona…

Jan 28, 2008 8:01 PM CST