Desk
10 pieces from this desk.
A tort reform group's October 6 report says businesses and insurers have filed nearly 300 civil RICO suits since 2024, two dozen naming lawyers or funders. Courts are split: Uber and 3M have survived dismissal, while Ford and Uber's New York case lost.
Policy Desk · 17 min
Governor Newsom signed SB 574 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, California lawyers must disclose generative AI use to courts and personally verify every citation, and arbitrators may not delegate any part of a decision to AI.
Policy Desk · 16 min
Governor Newsom signed SB 690 on September 30, 2026, leaving CIPA pen register and trap-and-trace claims over websites and apps to the Attorney General from January 1, 2027, and reaching back to pending claims filed since January 1, 2025. Section 631 wiretap claims survive.
Policy Desk · 15 min
Governor Newsom signed AB 2039 on September 27, 2026. California's new capping law adds a $25,000 civil penalty per violation, summary disbarment for qualifying capping convictions, whistleblower protection for firm staff, and written-contract rules for lawyer loans to clients.
Policy Desk · 14 min
California SB 37 attorney advertising rules let private plaintiffs sue attorneys, cappers and uncertified referral services for $5,000 to $100,000 per violation or treble damages. Nine months in, observers expect it to be used against plaintiffs' firms, including to attack class counsel.
Policy Desk · 15 min
The California Legislature passed SB 574 on 31 August 2026 without a dissenting vote. Governor Newsom has until 30 September to sign or veto it. A new Code of Civil Procedure section 1282.1 would bar arbitrators from delegating any part of decisionmaking to generative AI.
Policy Desk · 14 min
The Ohio litigation funding law enacted as Sub. H.B. 105 becomes operative on 6 October 2026, creating Revised Code Chapter 1357, repealing R.C. 1349.55 and imposing the first state ban on foreign governments, corporations and investors backing US claims. Consumer funders get 90 more days to register.
Policy Desk · 15 min
Governor Newsom has signed AB 2305, chaptered as Chapter 393, Statutes of 2026. From 1 January 2027 a corporate legal funder that interferes with a substantive litigation decision commits the unauthorized practice of law in California, exposed to $10,000 per violation or treble damages.
Policy Desk · 16 min
A letter filed on 14 September 2026 asks the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules to draft a uniform Rule 26 litigation funding disclosure requirement. The committee takes it up on 21 October — and the rule, if written, cannot bind anyone before December 2029.
Policy Desk · 17 min
Broad restrictions on consumer and employment arbitration have gone nowhere. The 2022 sexual assault and harassment statute did pass — and it established the template every serious reform proposal now follows.
Policy Desk · 3 min