Civic education is being taught in almost all U.S. schools, but students aren’t given the chance to volunteer, engage with their communities or have civic dialogue, according to a new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education. While 90% of school districts embed civics into required courses, only 35% offer opportunities for students to participate in civic learning opportunities outside the classroom and only 13% require community engagement or civic action projects, according to the report.

(Subscription required) After 25 years in criminal law, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Julian C. Recana left behind felony prosecutions and criminal assignments for an unfamiliar world of civil litigation. Guided by his retired judge father, Recana says the transition has rekindled his love of learning while reshaping his approach to judging. 

The California Supreme Court held yesterday that a failure to plead that coverage limits on underlying insurance policies have been fully paid out is not fatal to a party’s claims for declaratory relief and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing against higher-tiered excess insurers.

A provision in a retainer agreement saying that a law firm is entitled to attorney fees if it successfully represents itself in a dispute with the client, in an effort to sidestep the California Supreme Court’s 1995 decision in Trope v. Trope, is ineffective, Div. Five of this district’s Court of Appeal has held.