Lyle Moran

Journalist

San Diego

A California-based reporter with more than a decade of experience covering legal issues, state and local government and higher education.

Lyle Moran

Journalist

San Diego

A California-based reporter with more than a decade of experience covering legal issues, state and local government and higher education.

State of the Profession 2021: BigLaw proved to be most resilient to COVID-19
As COVID-19 started spreading across the U.S. in spring 2020, legal consultant Kent Zimmermann says he and his colleagues at Zeughauser Group fielded a steady stream of calls from worried law firm leaders. Managing partners and firm chairs sought advice about delaying partner distributions and draws in light of the anticipated negative economic impact from the burgeoning public health crisis.
ABA Journal
Online dispute resolution promises to increase access to justice, but challenges remain
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cowan has seen firsthand how contentious small claims cases can get. Self-represented litigants unfamiliar with court procedures often become frustrated with the way hearings are conducted, he says, and take it out on their opposition by engaging in irrelevant personal attacks.
ABA Journal
Legal tech company featured on ‘Shark Tank’ experiences big bump in business
Boston divorce lawyer Julia Rodgers and Seattle-based software engineer Sarabeth Jaffe walked onto the set of ABC’s Shark Tank donning wedding skirts and veils while carrying bouquets. They then playacted a dialogue in which one bride-to-be wonders whether her fiance is hiding student debt, and the other questions whether he will remain loyal in marriage.
ABA Journal
Lawyers find their skill sets make them ideal candidates for college presidencies
It was spring break at Benedict College when news reports emerged in March 2020 that the novel coronavirus was spreading across the country. Yet there were still hundreds of students on the school’s campus in Columbia, South Carolina. Benedict President Roslyn Clark Artis and her team worked around the clock to help the students, including international ones, quickly return home so the campus could close because of the mounting public health crisis.
ABA Journal
How Utah's judicial and state bar officials worked together for regulatory reform
When Gillian Hadfield was asked whether she would speak to a spring 2018 gathering of state court leaders about how changing the way the legal profession is regulated could strengthen access to justice, she was initially hesitant. For years, the economist and law professor, who was then based at the University of Southern California, had unsuccessfully urged bar associations to support ethics rules revisions that would allow alternative business models in the legal industry.
ABA Journal
Will the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally remake the legal industry?
In late February, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School held a Law 2030 conference focused on the myriad challenges the legal profession was likely to face in the next decade and how it could adapt to combat them. Soon after, the spread of deadly COVID-19 forced law firms and the justice system to rapidly evolve in ways that conferencegoers had predicted would take years to come to fruition.
ABA Journal
Gig economy companies hope to expand upon California labor law win
Gig economy companies hope to leverage their recent California ballot measure victory to usher in laws across the country classifying their workers as independent contractors, and some experts say they have the momentum to succeed on that front. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, voters in California approved the measure, Proposition 22, which allows app-based companies like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash to continue classifying their ride-sharing and delivery drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.
ABA Journal
Bench trial by video? This lawyer says it went better than expected
Exhibits were screen-shared with witnesses. Lawyers conducted cross-examinations from their offices while the judge watched from his home. And one afternoon, the proceedings ended early when a witness lost their internet connection. These events transpired during a recent video bench trial hosted in Cook County, Illinois amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Kathy Ehrhart, a partner at Freeborn & Peters in Chicago.
ABA Journal
How the Washington Supreme Court's LLLT program met its demise
When the Washington Supreme Court announced in June 2012 it had adopted a rule permitting the licensing of nonlawyers to undertake some legal tasks, the news provoked the usual chorus of criticism from attorneys that it would result in members of the public receiving substandard legal assistance. However, the court majority that backed the nation’s first Limited License Legal Technicians initiative said it was an attempt to provide the public with greater access to affordable legal services amid a growing need for such help.
ABA Journal
Arizona approves nonlawyer ownership, nonlawyer licensees in access-to-justice reforms
Arizona has become the second state in recent weeks to approve opening its doors to nonlawyer ownership or investment in law firms, concepts that previously have faced strong resistance in the United States. The Arizona Supreme Court announced Thursday its unanimous vote to eliminate its ethics rule barring nonlawyers from having an economic interest in a law firm or participating in fee sharing, one of two major rules changes it adopted this week in hopes of expanding access to justice.
ABA Journal
California Is Cracking Down on Legal Scams Targeting Immigrants
Robin Schwab told a local Hungarian immigrant named Magdolna Gulyas that she was a lawyer who could help get Gulyas’ husband released from ICE custody amid his active deportation order. Gulyas, who also had been ordered removed from the United States, paid Schwab slightly more than $3,000 last year for legal help in tandem with another attorney in San Diego County.
Voice of San Diego
This Western State Law Student Has Experienced A ‘Double Whammy’
When Jamila Ha and her fellow Western State College of Law at Argosy University students realized in January they had not received their federal financial aid, Ha said she immediately thought, “Oh my goodness, here we go again.”. The news sparked that sense of dread because Ha was a first-year student at another Orange County institution, Whittier Law School, when it announced in April 2017 it would be closing in the coming years amid a sharp decline in enrollment and graduates’ poor performance on the California bar exam.
Above the Law
At Poway Synagogue Funeral, Daughter Says Lori Kaye’s Gift to World Was ‘Her Heroism’
Many speakers at the funeral, which drew an overflow crowd watching on a large screen outside, remembered Kaye’s generosity. Lori Gilbert Kaye dreamed as a child of being a TV newscaster who shared stories about the world with viewers. But in a tragic turn of events Kaye became the focus of news reports worldwide in recent days because she was killed in the shooting at Chabad of Poway synagogue while trying to protect her rabbi.
The Daily Beast
Re-Fingerprinting Of California Lawyers Turns Up Thousands Of Criminal Records
The State Bar of California has received more than 6,000 criminal history reports to review as a result of the ongoing re-fingerprinting of lawyers in the state. Slightly more than 2,200 of the records involve attorney convictions for which the bar had no previous record, according to data from early March.
Above the Law
California Split: 1 year after nation's largest bar became 2 entities, observers see positive change
For nearly 90 years, the State Bar of California hosted an annual convention that brought together hundreds of lawyers for educational programming, keynote speeches and networking. But amid legislative scrutiny and concerns about optics, the bar’s board voted to cancel the 2017 meeting that was to be held at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.
ABA Journal
Beset by Problems, Thomas Jefferson Law School Is Trying to Avoid a Death Blow
Thomas Jefferson School of Law has been in near-constant turmoil since taking on significant debt to build a new $90 million facility in the East Village amid the financial recession last decade. Paying off the bonds for the upscale building during a period when consumer interest in law school precipitously dropped proved difficult, resulting in persistent financial woes.
Voice of San Diego

About

Lyle Moran

Lyle Moran is a legal affairs reporter for the ABA Journal. The San Diego-based journalist focuses his coverage for the national publication on the business of law and legal technology.

Moran has previously written for a variety of national and local outlets. In addition to covering legal topics, Moran has also reported on higher education, state/local government and housing issues. He has also covered breaking news.

Moran has more than a decade of reporting experience on the West and East coasts, and his work has frequently earned awards. He previously reported for the Associated Press, Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Diego Daily Transcript and Lowell Sun.

Moran is a native of Cambridge, Mass., and graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism. He enjoys playing tennis and hiking in San Diego.