Blog

05 Jan Reflections From The Past Year of Criminal Defense Practice: Lesson One

Posted at 17:14h in Criminal Defense by Caleb Mason

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. ...

05 Jan Whither the Future of Non-Judicial Fora?

Posted at 17:06h in Litigation, Securities Litigation & Regulation by Ron Wood

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...

14 Dec When is an investor responsible for his or her own investment decisions?

Posted at 15:51h in Securities Litigation & Regulation by Ron Wood

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...

14 Dec BWO Partner Ken White Speaks At Cato Institute’s “The State of American Criminal Justice” Conference

Posted at 15:41h in Criminal Defense by Brown White & Osborn LLP

Last week Brown White & Osborn LLP partner Ken White spoke at the Cato Institute's "The State of American Criminal Justice" conference. His panel discussion, "Inside the Courtroom," can be seen here....

09 Dec When the Brakes of Heavy Regulation Work on Only One Side of the Car

Posted at 21:30h in Securities Litigation & Regulation by Ron Wood

How is this as a “reward” for cooperation: you’re a financial institution who learns that some of your customers have violated the terms of their loan agreement with an affiliate and used borrowed funds to invest in the stock market, some even having invested on...

19 Oct Fox v. Nexflix And Employee Poaching Under California Law

Posted at 15:45h in Litigation by Laura Payne

21st Century Fox recently made news when it filed suit against Netflix for poaching two of Fox’s top executives. Fox claims in its suit filed on September 16, 2016, that its executives were still under contract and Netflix’s poaching constituted tortious interference with those contracts....

17 Oct Self-Driving Cars And Your Private Data

Posted at 14:47h in Criminal Defense, Litigation by Scott Menger

Self-driving cars are the swiftly-approaching future of transportation. From Uber’s rollout of self-driving ride share vehicles in Pittsburgh, to the State of California’s recent issue of a license to Chinese tech giant Baidu to test its automated vehicles in the state, companies and state governments...

30 Sep Eye Spy – Whistleblowing in the Post-Dodd-Frank Era.

Posted at 01:00h in Securities Litigation & Regulation by Ron Wood

Five years after the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) established its Office of the Whistleblower, its whistleblower program has matured and seems rooted for the long term. Since inception, the Office has received more than 14,000 tips from around the world, which has increased annually...

21 Sep How Would California’s Prop 64 Change Drug Law Enforcement?

Posted at 14:28h in Criminal Defense by Natalie Bermudez

Since the Compassionate Use Act (Prop 215) passed in 1996, California has had some of the most lenient marijuana laws in the United States. Under California Health and Safety Code section 11357, possession for personal use (or “simple possession”) of not more than 28.5 grams of...

20 Sep Department of Justice Directs Forensic Trial Witnesses to Stop Claiming “Scientific Certainty.”

Posted at 23:53h in Criminal Defense by Caleb Mason

Last week the U.S. Department of Justice issued directives to all DOJ agencies regarding accurate analysis and presentation of forensic evidence. The directives can be found here. Directive Number 1 provides that agencies must now “ensure that forensic examiners are not using the expressions ‘reasonable scientific...