Stories of note

Today's DJ reports 4th District Won't Disqualify its justices from hearing suits against JAMS: "The 4th District Court of Appeal will not disqualify all its justices from hearing a lwasuit against JAMS and its co-founder, retired Justice John K. Trotter, rejecting allegations of inherent bias becuase o fthe ADR provider's status as a lucrative post-bench option." The lawyer who filed the blanket court-wide disqualification motion now says he "plans to file disqualification motions against individual justices 'based on actual bias.'"

The DJ also offers State Supreme Court Clerk to Retire: "The clerk of the state Supreme Court, Frank A. McGuire, will retire next month after a legal career that includes 25 years of service to the judicial branch." The MetNews offers State Supreme Court Clerk/Administrator Frank McGuire to Retire Next Month, quoting the Chief:

“Frank brought a keen legal mind to the work of the court, but also an industrial engineer’s eye to the court’s operations and processes,” the chief justice said in a statement. “He has instituted improvements in how we handle expedited petitions, cases, and eSubmissions, and has laid the groundwork for E-Filing; he has expanded the court’s outreach program—both in-house and at special oral argument sessions in law schools and the courts of appeal; and when I announced we would live webcast the court’s oral argument sessions in English and Spanish, Frank made it happen.’

And in today's DJ, OCSC Judge Gregg Prickett presents Can You Name that Motion, about the numerous motions made by criminal defendants that are widely known and referred to by the appellate opinions that originally discussed the motions. Those new to criminal work should find this A to Z--really an A toW (i.e., from Apprendi to Wheeler)--useful. The motions are Apprendi, Aranda (Bruton), Arbuckle, Brady, Castro, Dillon, Evans, Faretta, Franks, Griffin, Harvey-Madden, Henry-Massiah, Ireland, Kellett, Kelly, Lent, Marsden, McNabb-Mallory, Mejia, Murgia, Pitchess, Serna, Swann-Gilbert, Theodor, Toledo, Trombetta (Hitch), Wade-Gilbert, Wheeler (Batson).

Law360 features Legal Leviathans: These Law Profs Are Cited Most By Judges, and SoCal is well represented because the chart includes: Eugene Volokh, Erwin Chemersinsky, and Adam Winkler.