Micheli Files
What is a substantive change in the law?
Image by Andrey_PopovWhether a bill proposes to make a substantive or non-substantive change in law has several implications. Inquiring legislative minds want to know.
Posts Tagged: lawyers
Image by Andrey_PopovRecent News
Nearly half-century later, lawyers and doctors see peace over MICRA
Illustration of the elements of medicine and the law. (Illustration: vchal, via Shutterstock)The latest chapter in a decades-long battle between physicians and lawyers is unfolding through compromise in Sacramento and so far, almost everyone involved has come aboard. The political battle revolves around California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) which limits the amount of money patients can receive if injured by a physician in connection with medical treatment.
News
A new state department targets California’s infrastructure
Aged wooden power poles and high voltage infrastructure. (Photo: Virrage Images, via Shutterstock)This summer, California created a department dedicated to stopping its strained electric grid from causing more catastrophic wildfires, and come the new year the fledgling bureaucracy will add a questionably mapped labyrinth of underground cables and pipes to its list of concerns.
News
Urgency or special? That is the question
The Assembly chamber at the state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Felix Lipov, via Shutterstock)California courts are occasionally faced with scrutinizing the lawmakers’ decisions to label some bills as urgency statutes and others as special statutes. It may sound unexciting, but the reality is this: The courts’ rulings can affect millions of Californians.
Opinion
Court ruling curbs contractors, agents in favor of lawyers
Illustration of a talent agent's files. (Image: Olivier Le Moal, via Shutterstock)OPINION:Every day, California’s contractors negotiate written and oral contracts for clients and other third parties. So do art dealers, retail store clerks, car brokers, insurance, real estate and talent agents, auctioneers, architects and others. If the state Supreme Court refuses review on a recently published 2nd District Court of Appeals decision, any of those transactions done without an attorney signing off on the terms will be unlawful.
Opinion
Exempt health care professionals from AB 5
A perfusionist operating a heart-lung machine in a surgical setting. (Photo: Dmitry Kalinovsky, via Shutterstock)OPINION: In an attempt to address some problematic side-effects of a recent California Supreme Court case focusing on the employment of independent contractors, lawmakers have crafted a proposal that would take away our ability to decide how and when we work.
Opinion
Key advantages of a private nursing education
Nursing students at a university health care facility. (Photo: Africa Studio, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Nursing is in my blood. My parents are both nurses. My sister, countless cousins and others in my family have all dedicated themselves to serving others through the noble profession of nursing. When I graduated high school, I briefly tried to outrun my destiny. I left Los Angeles to enroll at UC Merced, only to find that the call to nursing remained strong.
Opinion
Gaming the system in asbestos lawsuits
A worker removes asbestos-laden material from a building roof. (Photo: Bjoern Wylezich)OPINION: First, the lawyer sues the solvent company and receives a full recovery after trial or settlement. Then, the lawyer files a claim before the bankruptcy trust for the same exact harm. Of course, it’s entirely possible the plaintiff was exposed to multiple different brands of asbestos. If that’s the case, then the trust should know about exposure to other asbestos from solvent companies.
News
Bar exam failure rates draw scrutiny
A student crams for an exam. (Photo: Antonio Diaz)California’s law-school students are failing the daunting State Bar exam in surprising numbers — and experts are trying to figure out why. “It’s difficult to understand why the pass rate in California is so low,” said Barry Currier, the managing director of the American Bar Association’s legal education and admissions unit.
News
State Bar facing fiscal crisis
A gavel in a California courtroom. (Photo: bikeriderlondon, via Shutterstock)The agency that protects Californians from unethical lawyers faces an uncertain future because of complaints about its ability to do its job. For the first time ever, the state Assembly and Senate this year were unable to agree on a bill to set the annual dues that lawyers pay to the State Bar of California because of disagreements over the extent of changes needed at the troubled agency.