Forging a Career in Open Records Law: On Record PR
Florida Public Records Laws: Avoiding Pitfalls and Mistakes that Lead to Expensive and Costly Litigation
AGG Talks: Background Screening - Redaction of Identifiers by the Courts Update, Breaking News from California
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 296: Listen and Learn -- Hearsay Exceptions: Government and Business Records
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 132: Listen and Learn -- Hearsay Exceptions: Government and Business Records
[WEBINAR] Exploring the CPRA’s Investigatory Privilege
[WEBINAR] Update: Social Media Meets the First Amendment
[WEBINAR] Social Media Meets the First Amendment
[WEBINAR] Public Records Act - Taming the Email Tiger
[WEBINAR] The Public Records Act - Taming the Email Tiger
Can Virginia Block Non-Residents from FOIA Requests? Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments
Key Takeaways - New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) was initially amended on December 29, 2021. On March 21, 2022, Governor Hochul signed a new law, amending FOIL again. Certain parts of the language approved...more
BB&K to Host Webinar Discussing SB 16 and Agency Duties to Produce Police Records Under Public Records Act - New police records rules mandating additional disclosures of personnel records will go into effect next year with...more
New CPRA Case Law and Legislation for 2021 - While an expansive array of records can be sought via a California Public Records Act request, the right to inspect public records is not without limits. The CPRA does not give...more
In a decision applauded by citizens of the City of Chicago and its leadership, the Illinois Supreme Court found that a provision in the collective bargaining agreement between the Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago Lodge No....more
Municipalities in New York State should be ready to respond to an increased amount of Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) requests as a result of a bill just passed in both houses of the New York State Legislature and signed...more
Earlier this week, in response to a nationwide outcry for police reform, the New York Legislature repealed Civil Rights Law § 50-a, a decades-old statute that largely prohibited the disclosure of police disciplinary records....more
The California Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that analyzes the public disclosure of police body camera footage and demonstrates the overlap between e-Discovery processes and other records production schemes. The...more
California Public Records Act Provision Permitting Public Agencies to Charge for “Extraction” Analyzed - Government agencies are prohibited from charging a fee to redact police body camera footage in response to a...more
Police Records Must Be Disclosed Even if Created or Officer Employed By Different Agency, California Appellate Court Says - The California Attorney General and Department of Justice must disclose all police misconduct...more
Part 1: New CPRA Laws for 2020 - While an expansive array of records can be sought via a California Public Records Act request, the right to inspect public records is not without limits. The CPRA does not give unlimited...more
BB&K's Christine Wood Gives Updates on AB 748 and SB 1421 in PublicCEO - Now, more than ever, Californians have greater access to police personnel records, body and dashboard camera footage and other recordings acquired by...more
A city’s ability to access electronically stored data does not equal possession of that data under the Public Records Act, a California appellate court recently ruled....more
In the first court ruling on Senate Bill 1421, a judge held that the new California law only applies prospectively, but still requires disclosure of pre-2019 police personnel records in response to Public Record Act requests...more
Senate Bill 1421, which dramatically changed the scope of a public peace officer record, has generated a number of legal challenges since it went into effect on Jan. 1....more
A divided New York Court of Appeals recently held that Civil Rights Law § 50-a bars disclosure of police officer personnel records except under very limited circumstances, eliminating access to such records by the press or...more
The City of Long Beach has hired Best Best & Krieger LLP Of Counsel Gary Schons to conduct an independent investigation into the Long Beach Police Department’s use of a controversial communications app. TigerText, which...more
• The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) officer for the city of Aurora, Ill., released "largely unredacted" documents in response to an incarcerated felon's request for information about the police officers who worked the...more
Public entities litigating California Public Records Act cases may now face the additional burden of responding to civil discovery requests. The Second District Court of Appeal recently issued its opinion in City of Los...more
The bill establishes a more restrictive process for obtaining video than the courts have provided for under the Right to Know Law. The Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill on October 19 that would prohibit police body...more
What happens when trade secret protections collide with laws granting public access to government records? This question took center stage in a recent case involving the Seattle Police Department (“SPD”). A federal district...more
Is Your Police Department Ready for Body Cameras? - Police use of force has been heavily scrutinized for more than a year. In May 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was providing $20 million in grants...more
Only a Record Generated as Part of an Internal Investigation is Protected by Pitchess - The California Court of Appeal has ruled in City of Eureka v. Superior Court (Greenson) that a police “dash cam” video of an...more
BB&K attorney Gary Schons examines police body cameras from a variety of angles for the California District Attorneys Association’s Prosecutor’s Brief. The use of body-worn cameras by law enforcement officials and what...more
Sometimes, killing a bad bill can be as important as enacting a good one. So it was for newsrooms during the 2015 session of the Texas Legislature. My partner Paul Watler and I were privileged to assist the Texas Association...more
The Connecticut Supreme Court has resolved an intense debate about what law enforcement agencies are required to release with regard to arrest records and associated reports. This decision could affect the ability of school...more