The Solo Advisor

Before filing a motion to compel discovery responses, the parties must engage in a "reasonable and good faith attempt at an informal resolution of each issue presented by the motion." (Code Civ. Proc., § 2016.040.) What constitutes a good faith meet-and-confer effort depends on a variety of factors. Read more

Code of Civil Procedure section 998 was enacted to encourage settlement of lawsuits before trial. The statute provides a cost shifting financial disincentive to a party who fails to achieve a better result at trial than that party could have achieved by accepting his or her opponent’s settlement offer. Read more

It is May which means it is Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental Health is a critical issue for everyone, but it’s hard to ignore the impact of mental health conditions on attorneys and especially solo and small firm attorneys who have to juggle so much in our lives on the daily. Read more

On March 15, the State Bar published its second biennial report to the Legislature on its efforts to further diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in California’s legal profession. The report documents the significant progress the State Bar has made in the last two years in fulfillment of this aspect of its statutory mission. Read more

A court may sanction attorneys for engaging in meritless actions or tactics with the intent to harass or cause unnecessary delay. (Cal. Code Civ. Proc., § 128.5.) But what is meritless to one person may be a rational extension of the law to another. Luckily, there's a safe harbor provision in the statute for that. Read more

The “lodestar” method is commonly used by judges and arbitrators to determine attorney fees for a prevailing party. The loadstar is calculated by multiplying the reasonable number of hours by a reasonable hourly rate. However, may the court consider lack of civility as a reason to reduce an attorney fee request? Read more

Spring has sprung. Many firms are really getting back into the Spring of things with counties opening up more and more and apparently a full scale opening of California as of June 15, 2021. Read more

Want to shine a light on a fellow practitioner? Read more

Applications are now available for the State Bar’s expanded Provisional Licensure Program, a week ahead of the March 1 deadline set by the California Supreme Court. Read more

In an “action on a contract” that provides for attorney fees and costs, the party prevailing on the contract is entitled to reasonable attorney fees and other costs. Read more