Courtrooms will go dark and civil trials will be delayed when the state's trial courts are hit with a 6.8 percent reduction in their budgets, thanks to California's ongoing financial woes. Several judges, including San Francisco Presiding Judge Katherine Feinstein, who announced pink slips to 200 court employees, decried the erosion of the justice system and called on the Administrative Office of the Courts to shrink its staff.
Although the Supreme Court had fewer blockbuster decisions that attracted national media attention than in some previous years, it decided an extraordinarily large number of cases that will affect the day-to-day work of lawyers. Legal analyst Erwin Chemerinsky offers his take on the 2010 term.
The State Bar will hold its 84th Annual Meeting Sept. 15-18 in Long Beach, featuring speeches by such legal luminaries as Cherie Blair and offering attendees the opportunity to earn up to 19 hours of MCLE credit. Courses will focus on substantive law, legal specialization and practice skills and technology.
Gov. Brown says Goodwin Liu, his nominee for the Supreme Court, was well vetted by Senators who blocked his nomination for a federal appellate seat, a process that enhanced the Boalt Hall law professor's already stellar credentials.
Jon Streeter, a partner in San Francisco's Keker & Van Nest, was elected the 87th president of the State Bar. He will take office in September.
Five attorneys, all with bar association connections, won three-year terms on the board of governors.
The State Bar petitioned the Supreme Court to reverse an appellate panel's ruling that ordered the agency to provide bar exam data to a researcher who believes affirmative action hurts minority students.
The San Luis Obispo superior court assumed jurisdiction over the law practice of William Peter Terhune of Pismo Beach, who was arrested last month on suspicion of embezzling nearly $300,000 from an estate he handled.
Longtime court administrator Ronald G. Overholt was appointed interim administrative director of the California courts.
The State Bar will audit a small group of lawyers who reported compliance with continuing education requirements earlier this year, asking them to provide compliance certificates.
After a decade of work by a special commission, the State Bar submitted revised Rules of Professional Conduct to the Supreme Court for approval.