Stories in this week's episode:

Avoiding two common errors on post-trial motions

A favorable verdict can still unravel if post-trial motions go wrong -- and one misstep can be fatal before an appeal even starts. Rex S. Heinke of California Appellate Law Group breaks down the Rule 50(a) trap in federal court and the 75-day JNOV deadline in California state court that catches even experienced litigators.

Courts should stop rescuing unlawful arbitration agreements

Bad-faith arbitration clauses used to get a pass through severance -- courts increasingly aren't buying it. Calahan and Blaine attorney Scott D. Nelson traces a quarter-century of Armendariz case law to argue employers can no longer claim ignorance when their agreements fall short of its fairness minimums.

California courts needed a statewide case management system

A recent critique of California's failed case management system missed the stakes for vulnerable families, according to retired Judge Terry B. Friedman. Drawing on his time presiding over the Los Angeles Juvenile Court, Friedman argues the real cost of 58 disconnected county systems was measured in restraining and visitation orders courts elsewhere couldn't see.

Stories in this week's episode:

California's court recording mandate leaves questions unanswered

The California Supreme Court settled one access-to-justice question in Family Violence Appellate Project — and opened several more. Megan A. Moghtaderi of Offit Kurman examines what the electronic recording mandate means for hearing-impaired litigants, conservatees, and those who fall between indigence and affluence.

AI chatbots are showing up in discovery: Courts can't agree on what to do about it

Work product or fair game? Federal and state courts are splitting on whether AI-generated litigation materials are protected — and California practitioners are operating without controlling authority. Fisher and Phillips partner Usama Kahf maps the emerging circuit of decisions and what they mean for discovery strategy now.

A lis pendens is only as good as the pleading behind it

Boilerplate dissolution allegations won't save a lis pendens when a motion to expunge lands. Friedman and Friedman partner Ira M. Friedman and law clerk Alyson Atencio walk through Kirkeby and Gale to show why family law practitioners need to plead the property claim before they record — not after.

Stories in this week's episode:

The radicalism of Clarence Thomas

UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky examines Thomas concurrences from last term arguing equal protection doesn't bind the federal government, Congress's commerce power is limited to cross-state transactions, and the Sixth Amendment provides no right to appointed counsel — positions that would overturn decades of settled constitutional law.

A jury is only as fair as who gets to sit

Retired Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Philip Pennypacker responds to coverage of Justice Goodwin Liu's jury bias jurisprudence, arguing perceived bias cannot justify excluding a juror without compromising the verdict — and that recent legislation will demand more vigilance from trial judges throughout selection.

Variety Media: The appeal that could decide whether CIPA applies to website technologies

With oral argument set for August 25th, Variety Media v. Superior Court may produce the first published California appellate decision on whether the state's 1967 pen register statute reaches IP addresses and metadata collected by routine website technologies. Wilson Elser's Jana Slavina Farmer and Lioba Bakker break down what's at stake.