Litigation Section

The Litigation Section formed the Racial Justice Committee in June 2020 in response to the police killing of George Floyd and other unarmed African Americans, and the committee was quickly expanded into a CLA-wide group based on the outpouring of support from other members and committees. Read more

On March 25, the Federal Courts Committee of the California Lawyers Association and the Federal Bar Association’s Sacramento, San Joaquin, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire, and Northern District of California chapters hosted a webinar about Covid-19’s impact on federal court operations.  The webinar featured four distinguished panelists representing all four federal districts in the state: U.S. District Court Judges Anthony J. Battaglia (S.D. Cal.), Philip S. Gutierrez (C.D. Cal.), John A. Mendez (E.D. Cal.), and William H.… Read more

1.         What are the key functions of a federal magistrate judge? Magistrate judges in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California are authorized to perform the full range of duties provided for magistrate judges under Title 28 U.S.C § 636. The court encourages civil litigants to consent to the jurisdiction of magistrate judges for all purposes up to and including bench or jury trial and final judgment, with any appeal directly to the Ninth Circuit Court… Read more

California’s winter lockdown is easing, and California’s federal courts are again reopening.  Practitioners and judges wondering about the future can look to the Southern District of California for guidance on potential next steps.  The Southern District designed a Covid-19 safety protocol that allowed the District to safely hold many in-person jury trials during a three-month period in 2020 and to again resume safe in-person jury trials on March 8, 2021. We sat down with Judge Anthony J. Battaglia—who led the… Read more

April 2021 Central District of California Covid Updates Covid-19 Update: Effective March 22, 2021, all Courthouses of the Central District of California are open to persons with court business and subject to all posted restrictions. Hearings in emergency civil matters and criminal matters may proceed in court at the discretion of the assigned judge. Hearings in other matters will continue to proceed by video and telephonic conference.  There are still no civil or criminal jury trials, but the Court has… Read more

A monthly publication of the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association. Read more

A monthly publication of the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association. Read more

The Jury Instructions Committee of the California Lawyers Association’s Litigation Section has reviewed the proposed revisions to civil jury instructions (CACI 21-01) and appreciates the opportunity to submit these comments. Read more

A virtual series presented by the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues and the Department of African American Studies & African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley with the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Read more

A virtual series presented by the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues and the Department of African American Studies & African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley with the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Read more