Court Staffers Rally in Los Angeles Over Closure Plans

Several hundred court workers and community activists rallied in front of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Thursday, protesting the Los Angeles trial court's plans to close all or parts of 10 courthouses and consolidate services throughout the county.

"Our interest is not just with court workers," said Ian Thompson, a spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents about 3,400 Southern California court employees. "Our members, some of whom will lose their jobs if this goes through, are worried about public service."

Court leaders have announced that they will shutter eight courthouses completely and "remove most court work" from two other sites to deal with a budget deficit that could reach $85 million. Officials are also consolidating specific case types in limited locations. All unlawful detainer cases, for instance, must soon be filed in one of only five "hubs," forcing some litigants and lawyers to make lengthy commutes or public-transit trips to far-flung locations. Currently, tenants may appear in one of 26 neighborhood courtrooms throughout the county.

Court officials have also warned that approximately 500 jobs will be eliminated, although not all of the positions are currently filled.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Presiding Judge David Wesley said in a statement that his court no longer has the funding to keep neighborhood courts open.

"We are now being forced by budget cuts to make changes that will disadvantage litigants, attorneys, justice system partners and all court users across the spectrum and across our court," Wesley said.

In past years, court workers have directed their budget ire at the state Administrative Office of the Courts, accusing the centralized bureaucracy of profligate spending on pet projects at the trial courts' expense. This time, rally-goers expressed anger at L.A. judges for not consulting with labor or community groups before announcing the upcoming closures.

"The judges made the decision," Thompson said. "They launched this consolidation plan. They have the power to scale it back."

A statement released by the court Wednesday said court leaders met with "hundreds" of attorneys, law enforcement officials and county representatives before deciding on the closure plan.

Thursday's rally followed on the heels of a lawsuit filed by four community groups that claim reducing the number of courthouses where eviction cases are heard is unfair to poor tenants and those with disabilities. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in L.A., names Los Angeles Presiding Judge Wesley, Governor Jerry Brown and court executive officer Jack Clarke as defendants.

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Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports to Reopen After 8-Day Strike

As the strike dragged into its second week, both sides had come under increasing pressure from local officials to end the dispute, which had threatened to derail the Southern California economy during the holiday season. Officials from the Port of Long Beach estimated that $650 million in trade has been idled each day of the strike. A federal mediator arrived on Tuesday to help broker a deal.

“I am pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached between labor and management that will bring to an end the eight-day strike that has cost our local economy billions of dollars,” Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles said in a statement released Tuesday night. “With the strike now ending, we must waste no time in getting the nation’s busiest port complex’s operations back up to speed.”

Although only about 600 clerical workers had been participating in the strike, they managed to shut down 10 of the 14 shipping container terminals at the two ports because thousands of longshoremen from the union would not cross the picket lines.

“This victory was accomplished because of support from the entire family of 10,000 members in the harbor community,” Robert McEllrath, the president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said in a statement announcing the agreement.

Neither the union nor the terminal operators offered details of the new contract agreement on Tuesday night.

Steve Getzug, a spokesman for the Harbor Employers Association, which represents the terminal operators, said the union voted on the proposal from the employers on Tuesday shortly before the federal mediator arrived. He added that the deal included “some compromise on staffing issues that were important to the employers.”

“And, importantly, a deal has been reached,” Mr. Getzug said. “The longshoremen expected to return 7 a.m., ready to get the cargo moving again.”

LeClairRyan Is Latest Law Firm to Expand in Los Angeles

LeClairRyan has brought aboard five intellectual property and litigation lawyers to its Los Angeles office, joining a number of law firms that have established or expanded practices in the area.

Joining as shareholders are James Potepan and Thomas O'Leary. Joining as partners are Courtney Curtis, James Hildebrand and Brian Vanderhoof. All were previously at Ropers Majeski Kohn Bentley.

In July, Cooley opened an office with four partners, and, earlier this month, Thompson & Knight launched an L.A. practice. Other firms that have added attorneys in Los Angeles include Pepper Hamilton; Winston & Strawn; and Foley & Mansfield. Last year, Dallas litigation firm McKool Smith debuted an L.A. office.

"It's generally a function of out-of-state firms having clients here," said Jill Levin, an attorney recruiter at Los Angeles-based Levin & Associates.

Some of the law firm expansion is due to the development of Silicon Beach, an area of Santa Monica that is sprouting high-tech startups in part because the office rental rates are cheaper than in Silicon Valley to the north. Google Inc., Hulu LLC and Demand Media Inc. have offices in the Santa Monica area.

A convergence of the technology and entertainment industries is driving the growth, according to law firm consultant Peter Zeughauser. As more consumers move away from personal computers to mobile devices, tech companies need content, he said.

"L.A. is to content as Wall Street is to money -- the center of the Universe," Zeughauser said.

The attorneys joining LeClairRyan focus on copyright, trademark, trade secrets, rights of publicity, licensing and unfair competition. Clients come from a range of industries that includes consumer products, publishing, entertainment, education and technology, according to the firm.

"With the addition of Jim, Tom and their team of highly experienced attorneys, we are able to provide our clients with even more exceptional intellectual property and litigation capabilities in the Los Angeles marketplace," LeClairRyan Chief Executive David Frienberg said in a news release.

Richmond, Va.-based LeClairRyan has about 50 attorneys, patent agents and technical specialists who handle intellectual property matters. The firm, with 21 offices, has about 340 lawyers.