Legal Blogs

One thing to consider when doing legal research on the Internet is the issue of authentication.  It's one thing to find authority online.  It's another to use it in court.  Various courts have rules about what precedent can be used and, more particularly, from where it can come.  It seems odd in the days of courts having their own official web sites that the opinions which they distribute through these sites may not be official.

When I started in the Paralegal profession, the use of video testimony was limited to impeachment or when a witness was not able to appear in court and their non-appearance had to be excused by the Trial Judge.   Video testimony was limited to a VHS or BETA tape and it was extremely difficult to skip over portions of the video that were not played to the Jury.

This paper discusses, general aspects of court-based mediation in selected regions for economically developing countries using civil law systems.  It is a broad overview. It examines court-based mediation in selected regions where the speakers have experience, briefly will compare Court-Annexed and the Court-Referred models, will investigate the cultural and historical influences affecting the choice of the court-based mediation model, and will discuss the role of the jurists as mediators.

Here in California, there's no stronger rule of confidentiality than that applied to a mediation. It cannot be impliedly waived like most privileges, including the near-sacred attorney-client privilege. Simmons v. Ghaderi, 2008 DJDAR 11107. You cannot be estopped from relying on it. Eisendrath v. Superior Court, 109 Cal.App.4th 351 (2003). And if you want your mediated settlement agreement enforced, you must strictly comply with the requirements of Evidence Code Section 1123. Fair v. Bakhtiari, 40 Cal.4th 189 (2006).