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Google Glass and Court Reporting

Last month I had the opportunity to meet Sergey Brin at Google HQ. My court reporting equipment was set up, including my pink Diamonte steno machine. Sergey walked in the room and made a beeline to my machine wearing his...more

San Diego Pro Tem Court Reporters – Official Guide

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO - GUIDE FOR OFFICIAL REPORTERS PRO TEMPORE - The San Diego Superior Court does not provide court reporters for certain proceedings (see Policy Regarding Normal ...more

Broad Advance Waivers of Future Conflicts and Galderma

Lawyers sometimes doubt the effectiveness of advance waivers of future conflicts, particularly when the waiver is broad and does not specify potential adverse parties or representations. The recent trend nationally, however,...more

Bill on Bankruptcy: ResCap Report, a Bargain at $83 Million [Video]

April 10 (Bloomberg Law) -- Why the Residential Capital LLC examiner's report will cost almost $83 million is the first item on the new Bloomberg bankruptcy video with Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy...more

Legal Representation that Works for You!

Question: “I have been in a car accident and I have a lawyer representing me; however, I feel like my lawyer is not representing me appropriately. What do I do if I want to change lawyers?” It is important for clients...more

Law Firm with Inaccurate Billing Records Receives Nothing for Its Efforts

Woodland Hills Attorney Barry P. Goldberg warns his colleagues to have believable and accurate time records or risk receiving no compensation whatsoever from a reviewing court. Since the California Court of Appeal did not...more

Ethics and the Virtual Law Office

Originally published in St. Louis Lawyer - February 2013. In the December 2012 issue of Forbes, the article “You Don't Have To Quit Lawyering To Have A Life” extols the virtues of a “virtual law practice.” Meanwhile,...more

How Graphics Help the President Persuade and Can Help Attorneys Too

In this post, I show some examples from the State of the Union Address that might help attorneys improve their own use of charts and graphs in litigation. Visualizing and presenting data in an engaging, persuasive way is...more

Court Reporters And Legal Videographers – Designation Of Transcripts

In complex litigation, and particularly trademark, patent litigation, court reporters often are asked to designate portions of transcripts as CONFIDENTIAL and/or ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY. The procedure to take out the...more

Legal Alert: Federal Court Finds That SEC Attorneys’ Interview Notes and Memories Are Not Protected by the Work Product Doctrine

In a highly unusual decision that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says “ignores 65 years of precedent,” a federal judge has held that the memories of SEC attorneys and information from their interview notes are...more

Court Reporter Working an Arbitration – Direct Examination or Cross-Examination?

I have been writing 250+ pages a day for the past week in a binding arbitration with three arbitrators. As a deposition reporter, I don’t do court work, and I don’t do a lot of arbitrations. The attorneys are calling...more

Argument Report: The Perils of E-Filing a Notice of Appeal

Based upon questioning during last week's oral argument, the Illinois Supreme Court seemed unlikely to forgive plaintiff's counsel for filing a notice of appeal electronically in apparent violation of the Circuit Court's...more

Decline in Securities Class Action Filings in 2012: What It Doesn’t Mean

For most readers of this blog, it is now old news that securities class action filings were down in 2012, especially in the second half of the year – this was extensively discussed and examined over the last several weeks by...more

How NOT To Plead In A Civil RICO Complaint

On October 12, 2012, two affiliated companies that operate nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Connecticut jointly filed a RICO lawsuit against two local union affiliates in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. They...more

OCA Proposes Amendments To Extend The Discussion Of E-Discovery Issues To Non-Commercial Division Cases

In a memorandum issued on January 7, 2013, the New York Office of Court Administration (“OCA”) proposed amendments to both the Uniform Rules of the Trial Courts (22 NYCRR § 202.12(b) and (c)(3)) and the Rules of the...more

Civility in the Practice of Law: PART THREE: CIVILITY BETWEEN LAWYERS AND JUDGES

The past two weeks I discussed the issues of civility between lawyers and civility between parties. If incivility exists between lawyers or between parties, this dynamic can be changed by a desire to do so; and either way,...more

Court Reporters – International Trade Commission Deposition Reading/Signing – Section 337

Court reporters have an obligation to know the rules that pertain to transcribing deposition testimony and the procedure for reading and signing/waiving signature. What happens to the original? When is a penalty of perjury...more

Superior Court Of California, County Of San Diego Official Reporter Pro Tempore Policy

I. Purpose - Parties have the right to arrange, at their own expense, for the presence of court reporters if the services of an official court reporter are not available for a proceeding (Gov. Code § 68086 & Cal. Rules...more

The Mexican Anti-money Laundering Law

On October 17, 2012, Mexico's Ministry of Finance published the Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Transactions from Illegal Funds (Ley Federal para la Prevención e Identificación de...more

Want to hire a cheap lawyer, watch out! (Part 2)

If you are in decision making process of which attorney or law firm to hire, this post informs you of an important point that will help you make that decision. So before you engage that all important counsel, you should read...more

LAUTENBAUGH v. NEBRASKA STATE BAR ASSOCIATION

PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION AND BRIEF IN SUPPORT

Plaintiff Scott Lautenbaugh seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to redress and prevent the deprivation by Defendants, acting under color of state law, of his rights against compelled speech and compelled association...more

Powerful Witness Preparation

In this series of articles, Mr. Small sets forth 10 time-tested rules to assist in the critical task of preparing witnesses. The first rule for any witness, the rule from which all else flows, is to take your time....more

Statistics I’d Like to See

Like sportswriters and weathercasters, appellate lawyers are constantly asked to make predictions. Just about every potential appellant who who contacts our firm (directly or through their trial counsel) has three basic...more

San Diego Court Reporters in Civil Courtrooms are Laid Off – November 5

NEWS RELEASE - SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA – COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO - Release: Immediately Contact: Karen Dalton Date: 09/25/12 Phone: (619) 450-5353. San Diego Superior Court To Stop Providing Court Reporters In...more

IP Attorneys: A Guide to Effective, Engaging Graphics for Patent Litigation

Apple’s recent victory over Samsung in their patent infringement case had to be one of the most closely watched intellectual property cases ever, and trial graphics played a decisive role in shaping juror and public opinion....more