The U.S. EPA proposed a new rule under the Clean Water Act reversing the Trump Administration's rule for water quality certifications under section 401 of the Act. Section 401 provides states and tribes with authority to protect waters within their jurisdiction from pollutant discharges originating from federally-licensed or -permitted projects.

On January 18, 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers finalized a new definition of "waters of the United States,"...

Non-Disclosure Agreements, or NDAs, are intended and designed to assure the confidentiality of shared proprietary information. Confidential information disclosed without an NDA in place raises the risk of misappropriation.

On September 12th, the Sixth District Court of Appeal held that Water Code section 1052(a) does not authorize the State Water Resources Control Board to curtail valid pre-1914 appropriative water right holders...

In only a few short years, we have seen a dramatic transformation in the public's opinion toward medical marijuana. These days, medical marijuana is increasingly viewed as a legitimate...

Appellate courts have broad power when it comes to judicial notice, and that power is comprised of two types of matters: mandatory and discretionary. In the first part of this two-part post,...

The National Labor Relations Board Office of the General Counsel vowed to name franchisor McDonald's, USA, LLC as a joint employer respondent in complaints alleging unfair labor practices.

On June 15, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana ("Viking River Cruises"), holding that California employers can compel employees...

In 1989, after years of investigation and study, the U.S. EPA ("EPA") finally selected a remedy for the Middlefield-Ellis-Whisman ("MEW") area in Mountain View, California, one of the largest Superfund sites in the country.

U.S. taxpayers with unreported foreign accounts or assets are in an increasingly precarious position.

Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 83(a) states that if property is transferred to a person in connection with the performance of services, the fair market value of the property less the amount...

Justice William Bedsworth's recent column, "Oral Argument: Better Than Oral Surgery," packs a lot of meanings into the title's last four words. (See The Recorder, 12/19/2022.)...

On October 5, 2015, Governor Brown signed the controversial End of Life Option Act, making California the fourth state to enact legislation allowing terminally ill individuals to take life-ending drugs.

As the court reflected, circuits have split over the federal implementation of the various states' Anti-SLAPP motions.

Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), taxpayers who itemized could annually deduct state and local taxes (SALT) paid on their personal federal tax returns.

On June 28, 2022, California's Fourth District Court of Appeal issued its decision in Simms v. Bear Valley Community Healthcare District (2022) __ Cal.Rptr.3d __, 2022 WL 2313164 (Simms)...

I recommend this article by Raffi Zerounian and Justin Thiele of Hanson Bridgett, LLP, from The Trademark Laywer magazine (Issue 2 2021)...

SAN FRANCISCO (June 1, 2022) – The Bar Association of San Francisco and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu today announced the launch of the Legal Alliance for Reproductive Rights.

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, countless policyholders made insurance claims with their carriers based on the closure or interruption of their businesses.

In an opinion that is the first of its kind in the California appellate courts, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 7, has ruled that certain COVID-19-related business losses may be covered by business-interruption insurance (BII) policy provisions.