(Subscription required) Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alexander P. Sario, a former DJ, brings lessons in tone, awareness and responsiveness from music to the misdemeanor bench, where he emphasizes fairness, courtroom atmosphere and judicial diversion as key tools.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed a District Court decision dismissing a challenge to a Sacramento ordinance that limits issuance of cannabis dispensary licenses to current or former residents of the city, rejecting the contention that the Dormant Commerce Clause prohibits such legislation.

Div. Three of the Court of Appeal for this district has declared that in deciding whether a prevailing party is entitled to an award of attorney fees based on legal work done by his or her attorney/spouse, the inquiry should not be whether a true attorney-client relationship existed, as held in two cases, but whether the property in question is a community asset. 

This year it’s apparent that the California Supreme Court has settled into a new normal. As our results show, over the past five years the court’s metrics in general have been rather consistent.