(Subscription required) The State Bar of California has approved a legal specialization in privacy law, marking the first time the State Bar has approved a new specialization in more than 20 years. The Proposed Standards will be incorporated into the State Bar Rules and take effect Jan. 1, and beginning on that date, the Legal Specialization Program will accept applications from attorneys seeking certification as Privacy Law Specialists.

In a policy announced Thursday, and effective this summer, the law school will prohibit its 1,120 students from using artificial intelligence in preparing class assignments and in all exams — except for courses designed to teach students how to use AI, ethically and legally, while practicing law.

(Subscription required) Beginning this summer, Berkeley law students will be barred from using AI tools not only to draft papers, but also to brainstorm ideas, organize arguments, revise prose, correct grammar and translate written work into English. The policy also prohibits students from uploading class materials -- including readings, slides and recordings -- into generative AI systems.

A divided Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that a judge rightly denied a mother’s bid to proceed anonymously in a lawsuit against the Ventura Unified School District based on her child’s expulsion for failure to submit proof of inoculations required for attendance at California schools despite asserted religious objections, saying the parent had failed to show the requisite level of harm to justify withholding of her name.