Brown White & Osborn LLP's attorneys have been published on current events recently: In a recent LA Times column, BWO Partner Caleb Mason explained how Attorney General Sessions' testimony illustrates the risks of clients answering questions. In another Los Angeles Times column, Partner Ken White explained how...
Numerous recent stories have reported criticism of former FBI Director James Comey’s “leak” of a memorandum summarizing his non-classified conversations with President Donald J. Trump. Critics, mostly in the political world and blogosphere, have decried Comey’s so-called leak as illegal or unethical. Removed from the...
In 2016 Governor Brown signed SB 833 into law, changing the way that California seeks repayment from deceased Medi-Cal recipients. This change in the law provides yet another good reason to engage in careful estate planning so that estates will not go to Medi-Cal upon...
Today I participated in a discussion on KPCC's "AirTalk" about a fascinating case in Arkansas that demonstrates how difficult it can be to apply established First Amendment precedent to new technology. Arkansas police have obtained a search warrant for Amazon's records of a murder defendant's...
Today Brown White & Osborn LLP announced a $3,700,000 settlement in a Section 1983 lawsuit it brought on behalf of the Downey Firemen’s Association and 14 firefighters against the City of Downey and its former Fire Chief Lonald Croom. The City retaliated against the 14...
It is (well, was) my secret shame that I follow the Kardashians—I’m not religious about it, but they’re a nice diversion from the gravitas of my criminal defense practice. But even the sanctuary of Kardashian gossip is no longer safe; they have recently been victims...
Last week I offered my first lesson gleaned from defending clients in 2016: investigate faster and more thoroughly than the government. It's time for Lesson Two: File better written work product than the government. You can win or lose a case based on the quality of...
To start off 2017, I thought I’d offer a few reflections from some cases I’ve completed over the past year, on what it takes to be successful as a criminal defense lawyer. Over the next few days, I’ll post on a few of those lessons. ...
Two late-year 2016 federal administrative and judicial pronouncements combine to raise concerns about the future of non-judicial dispute resolution fora. On November 28, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services, adopted rules which, among...
A recent FINRA administrative action against Merrill Lynch sanctioned the firm when “several hundred” customers of its Puerto Rico office invested in Puerto Rican government bonds and Puerto Rican closed-end funds, some using borrowed money and some buying on margin. When the value of the...