For the Public

office

The Challenge of Virtual Offices

Our country has continued to change the traditional workplace with fewer manufacturing, trade and skilled labor jobs and more customer service-oriented, medical and virtual office jobs requiring travel as part of the employment. Workers are commuting more, blurring the lines of when work begins and ends, leading employers and employees to seek guidance as to what is considered a compensable

Read More »
Appellate Jurisdiction & Scope of Review

Appellate Jurisdiction & Scope of Review

A district court of appeal can exercise either appellate jurisdiction or original jurisdiction. The scope of review can be either broad or narrow, depending on the type of order reviewed and the kind of jurisdiction exercised. Courts have appellate jurisdiction to review an order or judgment of a lower tribunal where a constitutional provision, statute or rule provides authority to

Read More »
causes

Understanding and Litigating Forum Selection Clauses

In business transactions, drafters often include certain “boilerplate” terms within the transaction documents, including forum selection or venue clauses. These provisions typically attempt to mandate the location where any litigation arising from the transaction must occur. However, when not clearly drafted, these provisions can lead to the initial stages of litigation becoming consumed in a battle over where the case

Read More »
laws

Trademark Trivia: These Laws Are Obscure, The Marks Are Not

Seventy years ago, Congress agreed on comprehensive federal trademark legislation that, for the most part, still exists today. This 1946 law is commonly referred to as the Lanham Act See 15 USC 1051. Collectively, we’ve been practicing trademark law for about as long as this statute is old, but it’s important to know that the Lanham Act is not the

Read More »
whistleblowers

Top Whistleblower Protections & Impact on California’s Employment Landscape

Whistleblowing continues to be one of the fastest growing and grossing areas of law. In addition to the financial incentive for whistleblowers, laws are constantly added to fuel the field’s meteoric growth. In 2015, the U.S. Justice Department reported that it settled False Claims Act (FCA) cases with over 450 hospitals for more than $250 million related to improper billing

Read More »
asylum

Seeking Asylum: Effects of the Immigration and Nationality Act

The human right to seek asylum from persecution is fundamental. The controlling international convention on refugee law is the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Optional Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. The United States committed to protecting refugees in 1967 when it enacted legislation to incorporate the Optional Protocol’s key provisions. In 1996,

Read More »
putative father

The Putative Father Registry: An Update

Over the course of the last few years, Utah’s adoption laws have regularly made headlines, but not for the reasons one would hope. Nationally, Utah has become an infamous forum for non-resident birth mothers in search of adoptive families, often without the knowledge or consent of the putative father. Utah, not unlike many other states, does not recognize the interests

Read More »
hospital

Whose Fault Is It When A Patient Falls In The Hospital?

A potential client appears in your office with a familiar story… An aging, but relatively healthy mother lived with her daughter when she had to be admitted into the hospital for an illness. Her daughter remained by her side 24/7. Her mother was due to be released soon and the nurses encouraged the daughter to go home, take a shower,

Read More »
office

The Challenge of Virtual Offices

Our country has continued to change the traditional workplace with fewer manufacturing, trade and skilled labor jobs and more customer service-oriented, medical and virtual office jobs requiring travel as part of the employment. Workers are commuting more, blurring the lines of when work begins and ends, leading employers and employees to seek guidance as to what is considered a compensable

Read More »
Appellate Jurisdiction & Scope of Review

Appellate Jurisdiction & Scope of Review

A district court of appeal can exercise either appellate jurisdiction or original jurisdiction. The scope of review can be either broad or narrow, depending on the type of order reviewed and the kind of jurisdiction exercised. Courts have appellate jurisdiction to review an order or judgment of a lower tribunal where a constitutional provision, statute or rule provides authority to

Read More »
causes

Understanding and Litigating Forum Selection Clauses

In business transactions, drafters often include certain “boilerplate” terms within the transaction documents, including forum selection or venue clauses. These provisions typically attempt to mandate the location where any litigation arising from the transaction must occur. However, when not clearly drafted, these provisions can lead to the initial stages of litigation becoming consumed in a battle over where the case

Read More »
laws

Trademark Trivia: These Laws Are Obscure, The Marks Are Not

Seventy years ago, Congress agreed on comprehensive federal trademark legislation that, for the most part, still exists today. This 1946 law is commonly referred to as the Lanham Act See 15 USC 1051. Collectively, we’ve been practicing trademark law for about as long as this statute is old, but it’s important to know that the Lanham Act is not the

Read More »
whistleblowers

Top Whistleblower Protections & Impact on California’s Employment Landscape

Whistleblowing continues to be one of the fastest growing and grossing areas of law. In addition to the financial incentive for whistleblowers, laws are constantly added to fuel the field’s meteoric growth. In 2015, the U.S. Justice Department reported that it settled False Claims Act (FCA) cases with over 450 hospitals for more than $250 million related to improper billing

Read More »
asylum

Seeking Asylum: Effects of the Immigration and Nationality Act

The human right to seek asylum from persecution is fundamental. The controlling international convention on refugee law is the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Optional Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. The United States committed to protecting refugees in 1967 when it enacted legislation to incorporate the Optional Protocol’s key provisions. In 1996,

Read More »
putative father

The Putative Father Registry: An Update

Over the course of the last few years, Utah’s adoption laws have regularly made headlines, but not for the reasons one would hope. Nationally, Utah has become an infamous forum for non-resident birth mothers in search of adoptive families, often without the knowledge or consent of the putative father. Utah, not unlike many other states, does not recognize the interests

Read More »
hospital

Whose Fault Is It When A Patient Falls In The Hospital?

A potential client appears in your office with a familiar story… An aging, but relatively healthy mother lived with her daughter when she had to be admitted into the hospital for an illness. Her daughter remained by her side 24/7. Her mother was due to be released soon and the nurses encouraged the daughter to go home, take a shower,

Read More »

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