Fri 18 May 2012
Originally, Dale Goldsmith had no interest in becoming a managing partner. As an associate at Greenberg Glusker in Los Angeles, he actively avoided the management track, preferring instead to concentrate on developing his law practice. But when he founded his own firm in 2004 with fellow land use attorney Mark Armbruster, he began to rethink things. Seeing Armbruster’s tendency to scribble notes on random legal pads and store receipts in boxes shoved under a desk, Goldsmith realized that he might be the better suited of the two for the role of managing partner.
Managing Partners Wear Two Hats Well (May 2012)
Wed 14 Mar 2012
“The days of apathy are over, folks,” says Cal public policy professor Robert Reich, addressing the crowd gathered on campus on a chilly morning last November. “Once this has begun, it cannot be stopped and will not be stopped.”
Thousands of people cluster around the Sproul Hall steps as Reich, a veteran of three presidential administrations—most notably, he served as secretary of labor under President Clinton—delivers the annual Mario Savio Memorial Lecture in honor of the Cal student who launched the free speech movement in 1964. The crowd includes not just Berkeley students but hundreds of other East Bay residents. Together, they are part of the Occupy movement, a loose coalition of grassroots protesters who, since the launch of Occupy Wall Street last September, have been demonstrating across the country—and around the world—against economic and social inequality.
Occupied Territory (The East Bay Monthly, February 2012)
Tags: 1960s, berkeley, east bay, east bay monthly, economics, free speech movement, oakland, occupy, occupy wallstreet, protests, recession
Wed 14 Mar 2012
In the ongoing battle over public workers’ retirement benefits – which retirees see as their vested right after years of service but critics argue are gradually bankrupting the state – the California Supreme Court ruled in November that implied contracts can be sufficient to establish permanent benefits.
Rocking the Pension Debate (California Lawyer, March 2012)
Thu 2 Feb 2012
Over the past decade, opportunities for new lawyers to argue cases before a jury have gradually disappeared as more clients opt to settle out of court. To help associates gain trial experience, some California firms have begun volunteering junior attorneys to aid local public defenders and district attorneys. In California, programs in the Marin County District Attorney’s Office, Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, and the Public Defender’s offices in Merced and San Francisco counties give novice associates the chance to grill experts, cross- examine witnesses, and argue motions – opportunities that can be difficult to come by, particularly at large firms. The participating agencies, in turn, get a hand with their caseloads.
Trial Training in the Time of Settlements (California Lawyer, February 1, 2012)
Fri 11 Nov 2011
Los Angeles arbiter and mediator Barbara Reeves Neal was accustomed to seeing her clients withdraw their cases from the court’s trial calendar when they decided to settle. But recently two of her cases went “off calendar” when her clients learned their trial dates would be delayed due to court budget cuts. The defendants also indefinitely postponed any talk of settlement, preferring a wait-and-see approach.
Getting Out of Line (California Lawyer, Nov. 1, 2011)
Fri 11 Nov 2011
While deeply rooted in spiritual beginnings, many seasonal celebrations put the spotlight on a special meal.This month, we asked East Bay residents to tell us about other kinds of holiday traditions.
Rituals to Relish (East Bay Monthly, November 1, 2011)
Sun 2 Oct 2011
The cobra skeleton caught Marlene Furtado’s eye as she passed by The Bone Room on Berkeley’s Solano Avenue. The dry bones, a Slinky-like coil of toothpick-thin ribs, told her that this was no ordinary store. “That’s something that would hook anyone with any curiosity,” says Furtado, a 70-year-old retired insurance litigator who lives in Albany.
Skeletons Out of the Closet (East Bay Monthly, October 1, 2011)
Sat 3 Sep 2011
Recent funding cuts to California’s beleaguered court system may be so severe as to be unconstitutional. At issue is whether the $350 million that lawmakers permanently slashed from the budget could violate California’s separation of powers doctrine under Article III, section 3, of the state constitution.
Unconstitutional Cuts? (California Lawyer, September 2011)
Sat 2 Jul 2011
Jennie Morton wanted to do something different to celebrate her 40th birthday. She didn’t want to throw a formal party that her friends with kids couldn’t attend with their families. And she didn’t want to do something too kid-oriented, where her child-free friends would be bored stiff. So together with 60 buddies of various ages, Morton set sail from Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf on Adventure Cat, a twin-hulled catamaran, on a short day trip around the Bay.
On the Water (July 1, 2011)
Sun 8 May 2011
After several years working at a small San Francisco law firm, Ken LaMance was sick of the grind. Calculating billable hours was emotionally draining. And he didn’t much care for court cases that dragged on for months at a time, hardly ever giving him a sense of closure. He needed a change. So he quit his job, bought a beat-up pickup truck, and took off on a three-month Jack Kerouac-style cross-county road trip-from San Francisco to Nova Scotia and back.
Passages (California Lawyer, May, 2011)
