Judge Huey Cotton of the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Northwest Judicial District has asked the San Fernando Valley Bar Association to recruit volunteer attorneys to mediate civil cases at the Van Nuys Courthouse. “Basically in the Northwest District – Van Nuys court, back in 2013, there were about 17,000 civil cases,” said Valley Bar Association Executive Director Liz Post. “Currently, there are 29,000, so it has almost doubled in three years.” She partially attributes this backup to the state budget crisis from several years back, when courts experienced major budget cuts and consolidations. As a result, in 2013, the Los Angeles County Superior Court system cancelled its Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, where the courts would schedule and refer cases to volunteer mediators and arbitrators. Now they are looking for options to deal with the caseload. “What they (the Van Nuys Courthouse) have been doing is referring some of the cases to the criminal court, but that really isn’t enough,” said Post. Cotton has asked the Tarzana-based bar association to train and provide volunteers to the Van Nuys court twice a week to help settle these lawsuits and get them off the docket. Until the court determines the logistics of the plan, no start date has been scheduled. However, it will be very similar to the settlement program the bar association is involved with at the probate court in downtown Los Angeles. For the probate program, two volunteer attorneys go downtown to settle issues in four probate cases, which works out to two cases per attorney per day. This happens twice a week and has been ongoing for three years. Post said the Van Nuys program will work the same way and should start sometime this fall. To serve as a volunteer mediator, an attorney must have at least five years of experience as a practicing lawyer and be a member in good standing with the State Bar of California. Supplemental Lawsuit As part of a federal crackdown on dietary supplements that make false claims, Clifford Woods pled guilty to distributing an unapproved drug through his company Vibrant Life of Sylmar. Aside from the criminal charge, Woods also agreed to a consent decree of permanent injunction to retain a labeling expert, remove all false curative claims from his company’s products as well as notify customers that these substances are not treatment drugs for diseases. The case was heard before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Last year, the Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Woods and his company, alleging Vibrant Life was promoting and distributing products such as Taheebo Life Tea and similar supplements as treatments for illnesses such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and AIDS, despite lacking Food and Drug Administration approval. The tea is made from the bark of a South American tree called Pau d’arco and is considered an herbal remedy. Although there is a lack of concrete research on its benefits to humans, Woods marketed it as “the alternative cancer treatment.” In 2013, the company received a warning letter about the false claims but failed to take corrective action. Virtual Law Offices Over the summer, Cushman & Wakefield Inc.’s Legal Sector Advisory Group along with ALM Legal Intelligence released a report based on surveys from more than 1,100 U.S. law firms and associates. According to the report, titled “Bright Insight,” the top business issue for domestic firms is maintaining a competitive fee structure with 61 percent of respondents believing it will remain the biggest challenge in the legal field for the next 10 years. Technology is also changing the legal landscape as 53 percent of respondents believe certain law firms could go completely virtual as soon as the next decade, vacating their brick-and-mortar locations. As for the associates surveyed, the importance of making partner status and having a private office now takes a backseat to other considerations like work/life balance and being a part of a collegial work environment. “Firms are beginning to re-evaluate how they operate and make significant changes to their current business model,” Joe Stettinius, Cushman & Wakefield’s chief executive of the Americas region, said in a statement. “The future of law is changing, and the firms that are able to be nimble and consistently adapt to the changing times are anticipated to be in the most competitive and profitable position for years to come.” Cushman & Wakefield Inc. is a global real estate firm, while ALM Legal Intelligence, a division of ALM Media, is a legal content and information provider. Both are based in New York. Staff Reporter Stephanie Henkel can be reached at (818) 316-3130 or [email protected].
