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DOJ issues guidance on US lawyers as “forwarding authorities” under the Service Convention
It’s very common, and 100% correct, for US lawyers to transmit requests for service under the Hague Service Convention to foreign central authorities. But despite years of guidance from the HCCH on this topic, in the Practical Handbook and, if I recall, in the Conclusions & Recommendations of the Special Commission, central authorities often don’t……
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New guidance on procedure under the Uniform Arbitration Act
Both the FAA (9 U.S.C. § 6) and the Uniform Arbitration Act (RUAA § 5) say that an application to a court under the statute must be made by motion. In some courts, this creates a problem, because the clerk doesn’t know what to do with a motion that is not filed in a civil……
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Elephant habeas: California petition denied
The Los Angeles County Superior Court has summarily denied the Nonhuman Rights Project’s latest habeas petition supposedly filed on behalf of two elephants. The reason: elephants are property, not persons. “Certainly, Billy and Tina should be treated with adequate care for their physical and mental wellbeing; but habeas corpus is not the enforcement vehicle. As……
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Case of the day: In re Gliner
The case of the day is In re Gliner (9th Cir. 2025). Gregory Gliner was married to Veronica Bourlakova, the daughter of Russian businessman Oleg Bourlakov. After Burlakov died, there was a dispute about whether Veronica was entitled to inherit. The dispute led, Gliner claimed, to an article published pseudonymously on politicallore.com, accusing Gliner of……
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Oh, vendors
I had an interesting and unusual experience this week. I help a lot of lawyers take depositions without compulsion abroad. But it’s not that common for me to have to take a deposition abroad in a state that is a party to the Evidence Convention and where advance permission from the competent authority in that……