Brown White & Osborn LLP’s lawyers regularly write about criminal justice and civil litigation issues for publications nationwide. Here are three recent examples: Confessions of an Ex-Prosecutor at Reason Magazine, discussing how culture shapes prosecutorial behavior. Brock Turner: The Sort of Defendant Who Is Spared “Severe Impact,” at the FaultLines Blog,...
Today I’ve got a guest post at Mimesis Law about how our constitutional rights are interconnected....
So you were thinking that Speaker of the House is a cursed position? Enough to make a grown man cry (and cry and cry, and chain-smoke, and quit)? You can now add Dennis Hastert’s troubles to the list of woes besetting Speakers. Hastert, the longest-serving...
A recent series of articles and an editorial in the New York Times have re-ignited the debate about the fairness of private arbitration. While the current clamor is largely about class action arbitrations, and two recent Supreme Court decisions striking them down in arbitration (AT&T v. Concepcion and American Express v. Italian Colors),...
On October 15, 2015, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) proposed new rules and amendments to existing rules designed to combat elder abuse. The amendments will allow brokerage and investment firms to delay for up to 15 days the disbursement of funds or securities from the account...
When a client is accused of wrongdoing, the press often contacts attorneys for comments. Some attorneys choose the safe route and respond, “no comment,” which is not ideal for public relations. Other attorneys steer a middle course with measured words to the effect of “the...
The current pace of Dodd-Frank Act whistleblower awards should sound a clarion call to employers to do all they can to promote good corporate behavior and welcome employee concerns when raised. Doing so would reduce employees’ motivation to blow the whistle outside the company to...
California Government Code Section 1090 (“Section 1090”) – which prohibits public officials and public employees from “making” public contracts in which they have a financial interest – is notoriously vague, broad, and malleable. The California Legislature recently aggravated those troublesome qualities by expanding Section 1090...
California’s employee-friendly state legislature recently approved SB 358, the Fair Pay Act (“CFPA”), which is designed to reinforce the state’s existing equal pay laws and narrow exceptions that have historically made enforcement difficult. Governor Brown signed the bill into law, and the CFPA will be in...
Family members often initiate conservatorships to protect loved ones who have become unable to manage their own personal, medical, and financial affairs. These concerned family members petition for court intervention out of good motives: to protect an aging parent or other loved one who may...