Topic Archive: Law
The billboard one (and ex-candidate for governor) has filed what Matthew Belloni of The Hollywood Reporter calls "a hilarious, $500,000 breach of contract lawsuit against the Community Redevelopment Agency." Angelyne,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 17, 2009 11:18 PM
The L.A. Times' Scott Glover says it appears the FBI is doing the final vetting of LAPD Inspector General Andre Birotte Jr. for likely appointment by President Obama as U.S.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 28, 2009 5:58 PM
Laurence Rittenband was the Superior Court judge who handled the original Roman Polanski case, and if the recent documentary is correct, was going to undo a plea deal with Polanski.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 15, 2009 11:18 AM
Federal prosecutor Eileen Decker, chief of the national security section in the local U.S. Attorney's office, is joining the Villaraigosa administration as deputy mayor for homeland security and public safety.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 17, 2009 12:48 PM
Here’s a story that's gotten too little attention. Federal officials had been accused of keeping suspected illegal immigrants in "barbaric" conditions in a downtown detention center. From AP: The federal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 16, 2009 5:03 PM
Former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo began today as counsel at Goodwin Procter LLP in Los Angeles, in the firm's litigation department. He will have the leeway to continue his run... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 12, 2009 5:17 PM
O'Brien, appointed by President Bush and confirmed in Oct. 2007 as the United States Attorney for the Central District of California, meaning Los Angeles, will join the L.A. office of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 10, 2009 8:11 PM
President Obama has nominated Dolly Gee, managing partner at Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Jacquelyn H. Nguyen to the U.S. District Court bench... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 10, 2009 11:04 AM
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury today assessed $370 million in damages against Guess? Inc. co-founder Georges Marciano for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress in a case... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 28, 2009 2:58 PM
Catching up to this via the SoCal Minds blog: Pepperdine law professor Douglas Kmiec, a regular on op-ed pages and elsewhere in the media, was nominated by President Obama to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 9, 2009 11:18 AM
Eater LA, through a post signed by Curbed creator Lockhart Steele, says its post earlier this week leveling blind charges at downtown wine bar The Must "didn't rise to our... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 2, 2009 6:15 PM
A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal has sided with Jet Propulsion Lab scientists who are resisting a government requirement that they detail past and present financial... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 4, 2009 2:42 PM
It's not entirely clear to me who's leaving who here, but this much I know. Martin Berg, who was replaced abruptly last December as editor of the Los Angeles Daily... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 3, 2009 11:42 AM
The trickle of local Obama supporters receiving appointments as ambassadors is not quite a flood yet, but it's reached stream status. The latest is Munger, Tolles & Olson partner Vilma... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 29, 2009 9:40 AM
Vote of the electorate is upheld by the California Supreme Court on a 6-1 split, but the court ruled unanimously that existing same-sex marriages will also remain valid. Longtime Supreme... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 26, 2009 10:12 AM
There were any number of candidates off the Manny Ramirez situation. Just to change the subject, here are a pair of Twitter sends from Lawrence Hurley, U.S. Supreme Court reporter... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 7, 2009 3:19 PM
Cortney Fielding, the Superior Court reporter for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, is leaving the legal paper to freelance and work on a documentary project. * Update: Catherine Ho, a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 1, 2009 4:31 PM
From the weekend L.A. Times, by Harriet Ryan: In a statement attached to the newly opened file, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis said a series of missteps,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 27, 2009 12:27 AM
KTLA reporter Eric Spillman thought he had a good case so he fought the ticket he received via red-light camera while exiting the 2 freeway in Glendale. He won and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 20, 2009 12:26 AM
Irvine's new law school — the one that was, then wasn't, and now is run by Erwin Chemerinsky — got a huge number of applicants for its first class and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 16, 2009 3:43 PM
Californians Aware and its former president Richard McKee, a Pasadena City College professor, have been ordered to pay the legal fees that Orange Unified School District incurred after being sued... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 19, 2009 10:22 PM
President Obama has appointed a Maryland state official to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, meaning that Villaraigosa adviser Thomas Saenz didn't get the job. The Daily Journal reported... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 14, 2009 5:49 PM
Hedges died Tuesday morning at home in South Pasadena of melanoma. He was 57. He was a leading Hollywood lawyer and also made a name for himself as an archaeologist.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 11, 2009 6:56 PM
Good column in today's L.A. Daily Journal (by former editor Martin Berg) about a storefront law office on East Compton Boulevard run by Luz Herrera. She's just your typical Tijuana-born,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 3, 2009 1:35 PM
Some 190 lawyers and 250 staffers are getting the word this morning at Latham & Watkins offices around the country. The law firm was founded in Los Angeles in 1934... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 27, 2009 9:13 AM
Thomas A. Saenz, the in-house counsel to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has been selected to head the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division, the Los Angeles Daily Journal reports today... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 24, 2009 9:42 AM
The economic downturn is hitting the pro bono legal sector hard, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California imposing layoffs for the first time, today's L.A. Daily Journal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 19, 2009 8:45 AM
The Los Angeles Daily Journal will report tomorrow that a ruling by Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 4, 2009 7:40 PM
Remember Robert G. Bernhoft and Robert E. Barnes, those lawyers known as "the Bobs" who came out from Milwaukee last year determined to make it big in Hollywood? The L.A.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 26, 2009 3:34 PM
Two weeks after David Houston took over abruptly as editor of the Los Angeles Daily Journal, I'm hearing a lot of unhappiness out of the newsroom. Houston has reportedly been... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 17, 2008 12:39 PM
Politics, media and assorted news briefs from the greater Los Angeles universe. Heavy fog in Sacramento aborted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's flight from Santa Monica, so he made his fiscal emergency... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 1, 2008 4:14 PM
The Los Angeles Daily Journal newsroom was told this afternoon, in a very brief meeting, that editor Martin Berg is moving over to columnist and the new editor in chief... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 1, 2008 1:48 PM
It's not often you see Hollywood lawyers the prominence of Terry Christensen go to federal prison. He was sentenced today to three years, plus a $250,000 fine, for conspiring with... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 24, 2008 3:30 PM
Milwaukee lawyers Robert Bernhoft and Robert Barnes figured that getting actor Wesley Snipes off the felony tax charges he faced, and opening an office in Malibu, would gain them entree... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 16, 2008 5:35 PM
Of course Orange County judge David C. Velasquez was going to lose on his order barring the Register from reporting on a lawsuit against the paper by its news carriers.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 30, 2008 12:37 PM
Why yes, I believe they did. Terry Christensen's law firm sent out a press release today (via Sitrick & Co.) that says he'll be "withdrawing" from the practice of law... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 18, 2008 10:33 PM
Allison Margolin has changed up her look a bit since we last checked in, but not her tune. She has an Op-ed piece in today's Daily News arguing that medical... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 4, 2008 2:14 PM
As Mark picked up earlier at LA Biz Observed, prominent lawyer Terry Christensen and former private eye Anthony Pellicano were convicted today of conspiring to illegally wiretap the ex-wife of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 29, 2008 5:33 PM
Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo today filed a civil court challenge to block Controller Laura Chick from asserting the power to audit his office, and she called in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 11, 2008 10:27 PM
Cyrus Sanai, the lawyer who publicized the existence of Judge Alex Kozinski's web stash as part of a grudge against the judge, files his report for the LA Weekly on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 7, 2008 9:20 AM
Today's Los Angeles Daily Journal says that Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal, is in Sun Valley, Idaho for a circuit conference. He's not... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 30, 2008 3:05 PM
Alan Mittelstaedt, formerly an editor and L.A. Sniper columnist at CityBeat and LA Weekly (and blogging at the Weekly and at Witness LA), is joining the editing staff at the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 28, 2008 1:59 PM
A federal grand jury has been secretly probing whether attorney Pierce O'Donnell violated federal campaign laws by asking employees of his law firm to contribute to the 2004 presidential campaign... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 24, 2008 11:49 AM
I'm told that the Los Angeles Daily Journal's Supreme Court reporter in Washington, Brent Kendall, has left to join Dow Jones Newswire. He was at the DJ for five years.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 8, 2008 9:23 AM
Cyrus Sanai is the Beverly Hills attorney who found sexually explicit photos and videos on Judge Alex Kozinski's personal website and who tipped the Los Angeles Times to the porn,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 13, 2008 12:15 AM
Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, confirmed to the L.A. Times that he had posted sexually explicit photos on his website and only blocked... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 11, 2008 12:42 PM
The public information office at the Los Angeles County Superior Court has a bone to pick with tonight's Roman Polanski documentary on HBO. The court sent out this media advisory:... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 9, 2008 1:19 PM
California's Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the voter-approved prohibition against same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Mayor Villaraigosa praised the ruling as the "right thing to do," and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 15, 2008 12:42 PM
The seaside city has asked Ken Starr, dean of the Pepperdine Law School, to convene media and legal experts to help draft an ordinance that would control paparazzi swarms around... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 8, 2008 5:46 PM
New U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien redistributed the 17 lawyers in the public integrity unit in Los Angeles among the major fraud and organized crime sections, the Recorder reports. The San... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 17, 2008 3:16 PM
The Anthony Pellicano trial jury was seated today. The government's opening statement is set to begin tomorrow at 8 am. The prosecution's official witness list, unsealed today, has 127 names... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 5, 2008 5:56 PM
Interesting lineup at noon today at the Loyola Law School Entertainment & Sports Law Society symposium. Topic: "The Paparazzi, Celebrity Bloggers...and the Lawyers Who Represent Them." Speakers: Michael Amir, legal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 28, 2008 12:17 AM
Sandra Hernandez, who broke the news last May on the pre-deportation government drugging of two men before boarding at LAX, writes in today's L.A. Daily Journal that Homeland Security has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 14, 2008 10:19 PM
Loyola Law School Dean David Burcham has been named provost at Loyola Marymount, a new position at the law school's parent institution. The new interim law dean is Victor Gold,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 11, 2008 12:28 PM
No word in the Times web story on when civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman begins serving his federal prison term for tax evasion, money laundering and bankruptcy fraud. But the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 27, 2007 6:45 PM
CityBeat columnist Alan Mittelstaedt FOI'd the chancellor of UC Irvine trying to find out who pressured him to un-hire Erwin Chemerinsky as dean of the new law school, before eventually... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 7, 2007 11:25 PM
The Daily Journal's Sandra Hernandez reports that attorneys for immigrants being held in the U.S. facility are livid. In the wake of a series of scandals including the death of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 23, 2007 12:25 PM
The family of Lana Clarkson said through its attorney that "we support the decision of the district attorney in this case and we will be present at the retrial. We... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 27, 2007 12:40 PM
Phil Spector's homicide trial ended this afternoon in a mistrial, with the DA's office vowing to try again. The final count was reportedly 10-2 in favor of conviction. Earlier, the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 26, 2007 5:48 PM
The newly reinstated dean-to-be of the future UC Irvine law school will be next year's commencement speaker at the rival Chapman University law school. The dean there, John Eastman, has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 17, 2007 9:01 PM
Liberal legal scholar and pundit Erwin Chemerinsky will become dean of the new UC Irvine law school after all. Chancellor Michael V. Drake spent the week in North Carolina —... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 17, 2007 11:39 AM
A three-judge panel of the state's Second District Court of Appeal sided with local groups and the city of Santa Monica and ordered that construction activity stop on phase two... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 13, 2007 11:12 PM
Constitutional law scholar and media quotemeister Erwin Chemerinsky was all set to be named dean of the new UC Irvine law school — he even signed the contract — but... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 12, 2007 12:54 PM
The Hollywood Reporter's legal site gives up the ghost as a standalone publication effective, well, immediately. Coverage of Hollywood's legal movers and issues will become a "dedicated channel" on THR.com,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 20, 2007 5:26 PM
Jack McClellan, the self-proclaimed pedophile who has become notorious for hanging around local young girls and posting pictures on his website, flew to Chicago yesterday. Before he left, he was... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 4, 2007 10:14 AM
From the email in-box: Quarterback Matt Leinart has agreed to pay Brynn Cameron $15,000 in monthly support for the child they spawned together at USC. Corina Villaraigosa is already billed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 30, 2007 1:45 PM
Lots of L.A. city council members are happy about this — a judge rejected a challenge to the ballot measure that extends their term limits. Voters in Los Angeles passed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 17, 2007 4:06 PM
Associated Press reports that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Los Angeles has agreed to pay at least $600 million to settle legal cases with hundreds of Catholics who say they... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 14, 2007 11:55 AM
Today's Daily Journal front page carries the story of Ted A. White, an attorney who quit abruptly as a $115,000-a-year immigration judge in Los Angeles before completing his first year.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 10, 2007 11:32 AM
Brenda Lee only received $2,500 in punitive damages today from the jury that earlier awarded her $6.2 million for suffering discrimination as a black lesbian in the Los Angeles Fire... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 5, 2007 2:59 PM
Pinkberry's popular frozen concoction isn't yogurt in the eyes of the law in California, but the makers would like to fix that. Alexa Hyland in today's Daily Journal chronicles the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 14, 2007 1:10 PM
A jury yesterday recommended that Frank Lima should receive compensation from the city of Los Angeles after he argued that he suffered retaliation for refusing to give preferential treatment to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 8, 2007 9:10 AM
The Bush Administration has settled on Thomas O'Brien, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. attorney's office here and a former gang prosecutor in the district attorney's office, to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 30, 2007 10:27 PM
Curtis Hazell, the third-ranking official in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office and college roommate of DA Steve Cooley, says he did not begin dating stripper Donna Novarro until... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 24, 2007 8:59 AM
Just before jurors returned a verdict yesterday in a breach-of-contract case involving the creators of the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace," lawyers for the network revealed that the jury foreman... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 27, 2007 9:11 AM
It's Adam Gorfain, a 41 year old senior producer for "Dateline NBC" at the NBC News studios in Burbank, according to sometime NBC ABC independent investigative producer Eric Longabardi on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 24, 2007 8:59 AM
Waiting to hear just when (or if, considering appeals) he goes to federal prison in the Fleishman-Hillard case, Doug Dowie is writing up a storm. In addition to the screenplays... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 4, 2007 11:46 AM
The former New York Post gossip reporter alleges that Beverly Hills gazillionaire Ron Burkle committed libel, emotional distress, interference in business relationship, injurious falsehood, abuse of process and civil conspiracy.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 22, 2007 6:12 PM
President Bush gave Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a vote of confidence last night, but why let that ruin a good story? This morning's Daily Journal speculates on possible replacements for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 21, 2007 8:14 AM
A local panel formed by the White House has recommended Thomas O'Brien, chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney's office here, and Sidley Austin partner Kimberly A. Dunne... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 27, 2007 8:13 AM
For the first time in 57 years a Los Angeles jury has handed down a death sentence in a federal case, tomorrow's Daily Journal reports. Two Russian mafia associates from... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2007 10:20 PM
Lawyers for Phil Anschutz say the stinker of a movie lost $105 million because Clive Cussler lied about his book sales. Cussler says that's, uh, ridiculous. All I want to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2007 4:35 PM
The law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges raised its salary for new associates to $160,000 a year, following the lead of a top New York City firm,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 24, 2007 10:47 PM
PI Anthony Pellicano's client isn't as much a fool as he seemed. A week after receiving court permission to represent himself against charges of racketeering and wiretapping, the Daily Journal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 16, 2007 11:45 AM
Mogul Kirk Kerkorian got briefings from his high-powered attorney on what P.I. Anthony Pellicano was learning from illegal wiretaps of Kerkorian's ex-wife in their child-custody and support case, the New... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 10, 2007 10:23 PM
Remember when South Bay bagel shop owner Lynn Diane Olson shocked the legal establishment by getting elected last June to the Superior Court? Although rated not qualified by the county... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 5, 2007 3:10 PM
LA Biz Observed had it early this morning: the U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles, Debra Yang, is resigning to join Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and co-chair the firm's crisis management... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 17, 2006 2:23 PM
With the demise of the Los Angeles Alternative in print form, Allison Margolin needed a new place to advertise her services as L.A.'s Dopest Attorney. She found one. Ads for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 16, 2006 9:01 PM
Civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman made bail on income tax evasion charges after spending part of Friday in jail and returned to his office on the Venice Beach boardwalk, where... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 26, 2006 10:37 PM
Civil rights attorney—and long-time thorn in the side of local law enforcement officials—Stephen Yagman has been indicted on nineteen counts of income tax evasion. The indictment dated June 1 was... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 23, 2006 12:25 PM
Today's Daily Journal carries an Erin Park story saying that the City Attorney's office spent $10 million on an outside law firm to defend the city against a lawsuit over... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 19, 2006 10:56 PM