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Like a judge presiding over a trial, an arbitrator charged with arbitrating a dispute must not only treat all parties fairly, but must avoid doing anything that might suggest his or her decision was affected by bias.

In a divorce, custody of children may be awarded jointly to the former couple or, if circumstances warrant, a court may give sole legal custody to only one of the parents. But what happens if a parent with sole custody makes a decision that the other parent thinks is not in the best interests of the child?

Most businesses need work to be performed on a schedule, and this can be especially true in the entertainment industry, with its opening nights and “the show must go on” tradition.

It is a scene certain to show up at least once a season in any TV crime series: the accused, unhappy with his or her attorney, stands up and demands the right to appear “in pro per” – to act on their own behalf. While it may make for great on-screen drama, in real life, litigants who represent themselves usually don’t fare much better than do-it-yourself surgeons.

California law prohibits a lawsuit which is designed to chill the exercise of acts in furtherance of the right of free speech about matters of public interest.  That lawsuit is called a “SLAPP”, an acronym for “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” and the California law is called the “anti-SLAPP statute.”

The COVID-19 pandemic was declared over in May of 2023, but its effects are still being felt – not only by some unfortunate individuals, but also in our court system, as litigants battle over the economic impact of the disease and of government efforts to control it.