(Subscription required) After a grueling journey to one of the most isolated places on Earth, Commissioner Juan M. Valles II returned with a lesson he brings to the dependency bench every day: Communities thrive only when everyone contributes. Those who practice before him say that philosophy shapes a calm, collaborative courtroom.

The Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Six, will host its educational outreach program, “Appellate Court Experience” (ACE), for students from Santa Paula High School and Frontier High School. 

(Subscription required) Sacramento County Judge Jaya Badiga's non-traditional path through domestic-violence work, family law practice, and public service shapes her approach on the bench, where attorneys praise her demeanor, expertise and commitment to fair, trauma-informed judging.

Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday that a trial judge erred in denying an employer’s motion to compel arbitration of claims based on a 2022 federal law providing that a party asserting sexual harassment claims may opt-out of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, saying that the jurist wrongly looked only to whether the plaintiff filed her complaint after the law’s enactment and did not consider when the underlying dispute arose.