(Subscription required) Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sumako McCallum says she draws on lessons from three generations of women in her family to guide her calm, child-centered approach on the dependency bench.

California is promoting a “kin-first” approach to adoption, which prioritizes placing children with relatives. At an October council meeting, an adoptive family shared personal stories illustrating how kin placements have led to more stable and nurturing environments.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge erred in ordering that the University of Southern California await the outcome of a lawsuit against it before resuming disciplinary proceedings against a student who allegedly engaged in disorderly conduct in his confrontations with another tenant in off-campus housing, including throwing a glass at him, Div. Five of the Court of Appeal for this district held yesterday.

Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday that a judge erred in denying a wife’s request for on-going needs-based attorney fees based on her previous litigation tactics in the family court proceedings, saying that the fact that she was found to have lied in an earlier declaration and to have used wasteful strategies in the past had no impact on her entitlement to a pendente lite award.