Here are the remaining 5 tips from Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 6. In A Brief Browse on Briefs: Writing Tips from a Judge (part 1) and part 2, we gave the first 10 of 15 writing tips from the judge .
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Legal Topics, Legal Writing, Practice of Law | Tagged: legal briefs, writing tips | 1 Comment »
In an apparent response to the United States Supreme Court order to reduce California’s prison population and the State’s burgeoning budget crisis, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law A.B. 109 (Cal Stats 2011, ch 15, April 4, 2011), effectively transferring responsibility for nonserious, nonviolent and non-Pen C §290 registerable sex offenders from the state to the [...]
Filed under: Criminal Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: AB 109, county jails, criminal justice, criminal sentencing, realignment | Comments Off
The following is from guest blogger Tommy Galan, a former trial attorney and the current Director of Corporate Programming at The Peoples Improv Theater in New York City, where he teaches Improv(ed) Legal Skills, a CLE that shows attorneys how to use the tool of improvisation. For six years, life has been nothing but eat, sleep [...]
Filed under: Litigation Strategy, Practice of Law | Tagged: attorneys, comedy, improv, improvisation, trial practice | 4 Comments »
Last week, in A Brief Browse on Briefs: Writing Tips from a Judge (part 1), we gave the first of 5 of 15 writing tips from Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 6. Here comes — you guessed it — 5 more writing tips gleaned from the judge’s years of experience [...]
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Legal Topics, Legal Writing, Practice of Law | Tagged: legal briefs, writing tips | Comments Off
Unfortunately, we have all had to become somewhat knowledgeable about cyberattacks, even if only to be sure our anti-viral software is up-to-date. But do you really know what the different cyberattack terms mean? Here’s a quick overview of cyberattack language and what it all means.
Filed under: Business, Civil Litigation, Legal Topics, Practice of Law | Tagged: computer virus, cyberattacks, cybersecurity, email bombs, hacking, Trojan horse | 3 Comments »
It’s legal limbo for law grads: They are not yet licensed to practice law (with all the benefits that come with that), but they are saddled with exempt status for purposes of overtime pay. At least that’s what the First District Court of Appeal has recently held.
Filed under: Employment Law, Legal Topics, New Legal Developments, Practice of Law | Tagged: exempt employees, law school graduates, overtime pay, unlicensed attorneys, wage and hour law | Comments Off
Writing briefs — indeed, writing generally — is an area in which most attorneys can use help or at least a refresher. In a recent case (.pdf), some attorneys learned this the hard way when the judge called their grammatical errors ”so egregious and obvious that an average fourth grader would have avoided most of them.” Those attorneys [...]
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Legal Topics, Legal Writing, Practice of Law | Tagged: legal briefs, writing tips | 4 Comments »
The words “hot” and “accounting” are not usually found in the same sentence, but in a corporate world that is increasingly filled with brazen criminal behavior, forensic accounting is a hot job. Maybe we’ll see a slick CSI-type television program dedicated to these number crunchers!
Filed under: Business, Civil Litigation, Criminal Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: expert witness, financial audit, forensic accountants, forensic accounting, fraud | 2 Comments »
Question: You file a breach of contract suit and begin negotiating with the defendant. You agree on a settlement, but the defendant dies before actually signing the settlement agreement. The defendant’s beneficiaries won’t be opening a probate, because there is less than $100k in assets. Under California law, what do you do?
Filed under: Business, Civil Litigation, Estate Planning, Legal Topics | Tagged: breach of contract, decedent's estate, litigant's death, probate | Comments Off
