The LACBA Student Lounge Blog

Hidden Cameras in the Workplace: Legitimate Surveillance or Employer Spying?

Produced by the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Hidden Cameras in the Workplace: Legitimate Surveillance or Employee Spying? is a free event for law student members of LACBA (meal included). If you're not a Law Student member of LACBA, membership is $15/year.

The event will take place at the historic Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on November 16, starting at 6:00 pm.

Did the California Supreme Court recently go too far in allowing employers to conduct hidden surveillance of employees or does Hernandez v. Hillsides strike the proper balance between an employee's reasonable privacy expectations and an employer's need to identify employees who, as the Court put it, "pose a risk of liability and harm in the workplace." The panelists, who represented both sides before the Court, will discuss these issues, and the implications of Hernandez v. Hillsides for both employers and employees.

This will be a great opportunity for law students to network with attorneys who practice in the field of labor and employment law.

Speakers:
Holger G. Besch, Seyfarth Shaw, LLP
Mark S. Eisenberg, Eisenberg & Associates
Arnold H. Kessler, Arnold Kessler, Attorney at Law
Laura Shelby, Seyfarth Shaw LLP

For more information and online registration, look here.

Film Shoots Still Down in L.A., Says Report - LAist

“The year-to-date production numbers confirm the importance of the State’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program and the need for the City of Los Angeles’ recently passed package to improve the local filming environment. We appreciate these efforts,” said Paul Audley, the President of FilmLA, the nonprofit that is contracted by the city and other jurisdictions to coordinate film permits.

via laist.com

LAist also provided a nice 19-point strategy on how to bring filming back to Los Angeles.

The Tao of Tinseltown - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety

Major cracks have opened up in the studio infrastructure. There have been regime shifts at three studios, bankruptcy looms over another, costs are being cut mercilessly and both production and development money is hard to come by.

via www.variety.com

Great article by Variety on the "angst and opportunity" to be found in Hollywood.

Chemerinsky and Rasmussen on the Future of Legal Education and ADR: USC Gould and UCI Law Schools

If you're wondering what's around the bend for legal eduction and ADR, why not get the skinny from the trail blazing Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school in Irvine that's so new they're still playing with the bubble wrap, or from Robert Rasmussen, dean of USC Gould, one of the oldest law schools in the state?

On Tuesday, November 17, 2009, The Los Angeles County Bar Association's Dispute Resolution Services, in association with The Rutter Group, will host the 4th Annual Robert I. Weil Lecture. Here, Chemerinsky and Rasmussen will discuss The Future of Legal Education and the Role of ADR.

The event will take place at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker, LLP, located at 515 South Flower Street, 25th Floor, Los Angeles, California.

Reception: 5:30 PM

Program: 6:30 PM

Student pricing: $25

Weil Lecture proceeds benefit the LACBA DRS Youth Peer Mediation & Conflict Resolution Programs.

For more information and to register, Click Here.

Judge Robert I. Weil: A legend of the California judiciary, Robert I. Weil served as a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court from 1975 to 1990, when he retired to become a private judge and began a new career in the field of alternative dispute resolution. A past president of the California Judges Association, he co-authored and nurtured the widely used Weil & Brown's California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial published by The Rutter Group. He was a man of varied interests, and began his career as a journalist after graduating from Columbia University's School of Journalism in 1944. He later attended law school at USC. Whether on the bench or in the private sector, Judge Weil was a consummate educator of all who came in contact with him. The DRS Robert I. Weil Lecture honors his memory by continuing his tradition of sharing knowledge and offering a forum for dialogue on important topics related to alternative dispute resolution.

California inmate released after nine years in prison: California Western School of Law

Today, Rafael Madrigal, Jr. was released from the California Institution for men today at noon. The release of Madrigal follows the reversal of an attempted murder conviction for a July 2000 gang-related shooting in which Madrigal was not involved. Co-counsel Eric Multhrup filed the motion for bail on Madrigal's behalf. Last Thursday, Magistrate Judge Marc Goldman granted the motion in an October 1 written court order.

Madrigal's release marks the sixth release of a wrongfully incarcerated person through the Innocence Project, established in 1999 at California Western School of Law. The project evaluates over 2,000 claims of innocence from California inmates each year and several law students from the school participate in the clinics activities. Students who participate in the year-long clinic work alongside California Innocence Project staff attorneys on cases where there is strong evidence of factual innocence.