San Francisco Attorney magazine Archives

A picture of National League of Women Voters hold up signs reading, 'VOTE', Sept. 17, 1924. Millions of women voted in 1920 and 1924, but in a lower proportion than men.

Path to 19th Amendment Offers Lessons for Today

The Nineteenth Amendment federally guaranteed women the right to vote on August 26, 1920: 100 years ago. On this occasion, celebration is warranted; but it is not enough. The Nineteenth Amendment’s adoption followed over seven decades of continuous advocacy. The…

BASF Task Force Facilitates Police Reform

Editor’s note: Since press time, San Francisco’s Police Commission passed new body-worn camera measures that had been stalled in negotiations for more than two years. After the death of George Floyd reignited national conversations about police violence against Black people,…

Protestors raise sign on racism and BLM.

2020: A Time for Change and Action

I remember being very excited for 2020. The even numbers. The symmetry. The start of a new decade. I had made New Year’s resolutions – basically the same as the ones last year, but this year I promised myself I…

People in front of Los Angeles’ City Hall protest the state’s COVID-19 stay-at-home orders in May.

Liberty of Movement and Assembly

When everyone is potentially lethal to others, without any individual choice on anyone’s part Restrictions on freedom of movement and assembly in a time of epidemic are massive restraints on liberty. They would normally be intolerable. But I think that…

Notes and flowers left at the U.S. Supreme Court in memory of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

How Will SCOTUS Handle Future Issues Related to the COVID-19 Crisis?

The COVID-19 pandemic, not surprisingly, has led to a great deal of litigation throughout the country, especially as there have been challenges to the shelter-in-place and shutdown orders. Overwhelmingly, federal and state courts have ruled in favor of the government…

A health care professional kneels in protest as part of the movement, 'White Coats for Black Lives,' during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pandemic Constitutional Rights: Not an All-or-Nothing Proposition

The death toll associated with the novel coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, has surpassed 200,000 in the United States. To place this suffering in context, more Americans have died due to COVID-19 than all the American deaths suffered during the…

Attorney is working, with a scale on the table.

What It’s Like To Litigate Appeals During COVID-19

I’m the chairman of a specialty appellate law firm with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, and I’m involved with a number of appellate-related local and federal committees and organizations. COVID-19 disruptions began to appear on my…

Finding Opportunity in Challenging Times

This has been a year none of us expected. After so many months of doing things differently to minimize the risks of COVID-19, the memories of how things were at the beginning of the year, and last year, and the…

President's Report: Proximity Creates Connection

As we continue to confront the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19, I cannot begin this column without expressing how proud I am of the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF) and the Justice and Diversity Center (JDC). I have always been…

URBAN PLAYGROUND: What Kids Say About Living in San Francisco

Book by Katie BurkeReviewed by John O’Grady All of us are neck-deep, nearly drowning, in the volume of daily messaging. Yet, the internet must think we want more, pumping out a vast sea of digital content faster than we can…

Change Amidst Calamity: How COVID-19 Changes the Legal Landscape for Diverse Attorneys

When the San Francisco Bay Area issued its shelter-in-place order on March 16, 2020, industries across the region scrambled to adapt. Restaurant owners transitioned to a takeout-only model, merchants boarded up their storefronts, and San Francisco’s public transportation system almost…

Small Firm Lawyers Adapt to New Reality

How are San Francisco’s solo and small firm lawyers handling the coronavirus pandemic from a business and personal standpoint? To find out, we interviewed—at a social distance, of course—a handful of lawyers across several practice areas. Our aim was to…

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