California

No Slowdown for Britney’s Lawyers: Latest Spears Legal Bill is $372,500

Last month, Britney Spears was told to ante up $375,000 to pay her ex-husband’s legal fees in a child custody case. Now, a Los Angeles judge says, she’ll have to pay another $372,500 to cover legal fees related to her own conservatorship. “And that doesn’t even include the $10,000 a…

Apr 18, 2008 8:22 PM CDT

Group Wins Jury Instructions Award; Here is the Plain-Language Text!

A California task force has won a first-time award for jury instructions from the National Center for State Courts. The group’s revision, starting in 1998, of the state’s civil and criminal pattern jury instructions has created plain-language jury instructions that are now widely in use throughout California and much easier…

Apr 18, 2008 5:53 PM CDT

Calif. Boater and Attorney Sues Over Ethanol-Laced Fuel

Until it did $35,000 worth of damage to his boat, Lawrence Turner says, he had no idea that the ethanol-laced fuel sold at California marinas could erode fiberglass fuel tanks. And, he suspects, he’s not the only unwary boat owner who suffered such harm. So the 50-year-old attorney, who is…

Apr 15, 2008 9:30 PM CDT

How Entertainment Law Star Got Her Start—and Kept On Running

When Lisa Bonner graduated from law school at New York University in 1997, she knew she didn’t want to practice at a BigLaw firm. So, actively avoiding the opportunities to do so that await an NYU grad, she focused on becoming an entertainment lawyer instead, reports the New York Law…

Apr 14, 2008 9:46 PM CDT

Roman Polanski Documentary Puts New Spin on Child Sex Crime

More than 30 years after movie director Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl and then fled the U.S. when an initial plea bargain wasn’t honored, a controversial new documentary is portraying him as, at least to some extent, a victim of injustice. Although…

Apr 14, 2008 5:17 PM CDT

Brobeck Bankruptcy Trustee Sues 10 Former Partners, Two Law Firms

Ten former partners of the bankrupt law firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison and the two new firms they joined are facing lawsuits by a bankruptcy trustee. Ronald Greenspan filed two lawsuits on March 28 against the partners and their firms, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Dorsey & Whitney, the Recorder…

Apr 11, 2008 11:05 AM CDT

No Right to Hijab in Courthouse Holding, Judge Rules

A federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Muslim woman who asserted her right to wear a traditional Islamic head scarf while being detained in a courthouse holding facility. U.S. District Court Judge David Carter ruled March 26 that unlike jail or prison, a courthouse…

Apr 8, 2008 2:28 PM CDT

Celebrity Medical Files Breached at UCLA

A rogue employee reportedly peeped into confidential medical files of 32 celebrities, politicians and other high-profile patients at UCLA Medical Center, as well as 29 noncelebrities, in 2006 and 2007. Among those whose confidentiality was violated: television personality Maria Shriver, who is the wife of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The unauthorized…

Apr 7, 2008 4:43 PM CDT

New Pacific Law Center is Dealing With Old Problems

A lawsuit filed by an attorney earlier this year claims Pacific Law Center participated in unethical practices. Another onetime firm lawyer reportedly admitted in court that his client was guilty in a gang-related shooting case, allegedly forcing the client into a plea deal. Meanwhile, another former firm lawyer reportedly denies…

Apr 7, 2008 3:12 PM CDT

SonicBlue Trustee Wants Pillsbury to Return $4.2M in Fees, Pay $11M in Damages

The trustee in SonicBlue’s bankruptcy is seeking disgorgement of fees and damages against two law firms connected to the case: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Levene, Neale, Bender, Rankin & Brill. Trustee Dennis Connolly contends Pillsbury, the former counsel for SonicBlue, failed to disclose important information about a possible conflict…

Apr 7, 2008 11:16 AM CDT

Justice Kennedy Refuses Request to Block Release of Convicted Murderer

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has refused to block the release of a 45-year-old California prisoner convicted of killing a man 25 years ago. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel ruled last year that Fred McCullough should be granted parole because of evidence he had “turned his life around in 1985 and…

Apr 4, 2008 12:57 PM CDT

En Banc Court Puts Roommates.com on the Hook in Fair Housing Suit

An en banc 9th Circuit has ruled that a website can be held liable for violating fair housing laws. The ruling by 11 judges of the San Francisco-based court found that Roommates.com can be sued for violating federal fair housing laws because it requires users to provide information that individuals…

Apr 3, 2008 9:38 PM CDT

J.D./Journalist Slapped With Restraining Order for Posting Pellicano Audio

Lawyer/journalist Allison Hope Weiner may have thought she was getting a scoop when she exited a Los Angeles courtroom during a break in the racketeering trial of P.I. for the stars Anthony Pellicano. Indeed, it was a hot story. But it was about her. Weiner was handed a restraining order…

Apr 3, 2008 9:06 PM CDT

Patton Boggs Faces Suit by California Bank

A California bank claims in a lawsuit that the law firm Patton Boggs breached its duty as the lender’s general counsel by advising a group of activist shareholders who are planning a takeover. The suit says Patton Boggs served as the general counsel for Vineyard National Bancorp from 2003 to…

Apr 3, 2008 1:54 PM CDT

The Lanier Law Firm, Known for PI Work, Opens IP Office

Plaintiffs lawyers, sensing opportunity for profit, are branching out into intellectual property litigation. The latest entrant in the field is the Texas-based Lanier Law Firm, known for its asbestos and Vioxx work, the Recorder reports. The firm has announced associate Christopher Banys is leaving Howrey to open a new IP…

Apr 2, 2008 3:45 PM CDT