Storm's California Employment Law

Changes Coming

When I moved to TypePad, I thought it was a much better solution than Blogger.  I'm not so sure anymore.  WordPress also seems to be quite a bit ahead.

I'm designing a new site that will be based on one of those technologies.  I plan to include podcasts, video, and panel discussions.  I've realized that the one small thing that sets this site apart just a little bit from most legal blogs (I think the term "blawg" is dead, isn't it?) is that I do do some original investigative reporting, instead of just analysis, opinion, and citation.

Unfortunately, not a lot of that has resulted in printable reporting.  A few times, yes.  I plan to expand on that with interviews and more comment from parties who have taken positions on bills. (Another aspect that is, as far as I know, mainly different is that I follow laws from ideas to bills to statutes to case law, as they develop.)

Stay tuned.  Unfortunately, another URL change is probably inevitable.

Happy New Year!

Brian and I created an employment law update for 2007. It doesn't contain much that you won't find on most of the major firms' websites. The difference is the user-friendly action cues for the non-lawyers among us. Also, I have probably focused on some different things.

We'd appreciate any feedback you have. If we've missed something that you think is significant this year, I'd love to discuss it further. I'm not quite to the point where I'm ready to turn something like this into a Wiki, but I sure wouldn't mind a lot of participation.

I presented these materials to a mostly nonplussed audience today. There really just isn't that much that is really earth-shattering that's new for this year.

Download employment_law_update_2007_rev1001.pdf

New Author

Please welcome Brian C. Donnelly to this blog.  Hopefully, he will be stepping up the pace of the posting.

Brian is a recent graduate of Hastings, and we just learned that he passed the bar exam. Congrats to him.

Regulating Attorney Blogging?

By now, I'm sure most of you have seen some noises about the regulation of attorneys' blogs by state bars.  My favorite California law blogger, Kimberly Kralowec has her take here.

I agree with her.  This blog is not advertising.  I'm not too shy to take credit for it, either, but I'm not selling anything here.  Having said that, I think many of the larger firms' "blogs" out there are anything but.  They are frequently updated marketing sites that seek to freighten or agitate clients into their arms by drumming up the importance of some recent development in the law. 

But I'm not sure there's an easy line to draw, or who should draw it.

I think the legal-blogosphere adds a valuable medium to the discussion of the law and its practice.  Regulating it would be a mistake.  Personally, I find almost all of the regulations relating to how attorneys advertise to be embarassingly archaic, and more about (poorly) managing the impression of the practice of law than about protecting the consumer. 

Prop 64 Oral Arguments; Misc

Kimberley has a great summary of her personal notes from the argument in the California Supreme Court on Prop. 64 retoractivity.  She continues to show why she's one of the best legal bloggers out there.  Go read.

I will be updating the legislative tracks.  A major deadline for this session is coming soon.

Oakland Tribune Quotes Steve Chanley's Post From This Blog

The Oakland Tribune has quoted an entry on this blog by Steve Chanley:

San Luis Obispo attorney Steven Chanley, a shareholder with the Employer Advocates Group law firm, blogged about the case last September: "It is difficult not to be sympathetic to the plight of those who must rely legitimately on mind-altering drugs to mitigate their physical pain. However, it seems a non-starter to argue that the employment laws require an accommodation in the form of permitting illegal drug use."

Welcome

Welcome to the brand spanking new web-log!  I have gone back and forth on the issue of whether to switch to TypePad for months.  I decided to pull the trigger after yet another blogger outage.  A few points:

• I've changed the name.  I've put a lot of work into building this blog up, and I'm not too humble to do some branding.
• I will still cover certain "traditional labor" law issues as they arise, but that will no longer be a focal point.  This reflects the simple trend that only 9% of Americans are union employees.
• This was in fact the first blog to cover only California employment law issues only.  It is no longer the only one, so I've changed from "only" to "first."  Sounds just as neat to me.
• The ads are down.  It wasn't doing me a whole world of good, and I was using "AdSense" a Google brand (just like blogger).  Until I even figure out how to integrate that into TypePad, it won't be here.  It may never be here.
• The old site will remain up for a period of several months, but all of the archives are here.  The old site will stop syndicating at the end of the month.

Thanks for continuing to read!