​Those who missed the Civil Litigation Civil Judges' Panel Brown Bag in Department 13, on June 28, 2016 should mark their calendars to attend the next one. The title of the event might sound boring, but perhaps it should have read, "everything you wanted to know about judges' decisions but were afraid to ask." The Civil Litigation Section and the civil judges of the San Joaquin County Superior Court are working together to host a panel approximately every four months, and attendees stand to be r...

A few years ago, American Bar Association President Stephen N. Zack decried the legal profession's "continuing slide into the gutter of incivility."1 An ABA resolution "affirm[ed] the principle of civility as a foundation for democracy and the rule of law, and urge[d] lawyers to set a high standard for civil discourse."2 The ABA initiative echoes federal and state courts that call civility "a linchpin of our legal system,"3 a "bedrock principle,"4 and "a hallmark of professionalism."5 Justice An...