Birss was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Feb. 2, 2026, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Monique McKee.

California's State Bar says three lawyers leaned on generative AI for their legal research and ended up filing briefs laced with nonexistent or off-point case citations. Two of those attorneys now face formal disciplinary charges, while a third has accepted conditions that include a short suspension, as regulators tighten the screws on machine-assisted lawyering.

Failure of arbitrators to make certain a proceeding was being electronically recorded, coupled with their alleged incessant interruptions of the plaintiff, did not require that a District Court judge vacate an award, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday, affirming the judgment.

An anti-abortion activist, who bumped into an employee of a Redlands-based clinic with his stomach during efforts to block her from interrupting a conversation between another protestor and a potential client outside the gated premises, was properly subjected to a workplace violence restraining order requiring him to stay 100 yards away from the facility for three years, the Third District Court of Appeal held yesterday.