(Subscription required) In this interview, Judge Lawrence P. Riff, supervising judge of the Civil Division of the Los Angeles Superior Court, discusses the evolving role of Department 1, its unique responsibilities, recent reforms, and the challenges and innovations shaping civil justice in one of the nation's busiest trial courts.

Div. Seven of this district’s Court of Appeal has held that a California code section, providing that the drafter of an employment or consumer arbitration agreement will be found to have waived the right to enforce it if it fails to timely pay mandated fees, is not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, rejecting the argument that the July 2024 California Supreme Court decision in Quach v. California Commerce Club Inc. demands a contrary conclusion.

(Subscription required) Senate Judiciary Committee approves bills to audit and fund the California State Bar, as lawmakers push for bar exam reforms amid February test issues. 

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday held, in a 2-1 memorandum decision, that a District Court judge did not err in imposing a standard condition of supervised release prohibiting the association with known felons on a defendant convicted of a drug offense, drawing dissent by Senior Circuit Judge Richard A. Paez who said that applying the restriction is “significant deprivation of liberty” and fails to account for the possibility of rehabilitation.