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Now I’m sure that many reputable boutique firms pay Biglaw-level bonuses to their associates. But it’s safe to say that most solos and small firms pay whatever bonus they feel like or whatever they can afford. They are not worried about Keeping up with the Cravathians. Or with each other. Also, because of a lack of reliable public information, small firm associates cannot tell whether they are being shortchanged compared to their peers. And even if they are, they will have to take it because their exit options are more limited. click here

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A day after President Obama signed the new law last week as part of a government spending bill, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco asked a federal prosecutor whether the change would affect the sentencing of a Mendocino County pot grower, who pleaded guilty to charges requiring at least five years in prison. click here

Not far away, lawyers for Harborside Health Center in Oakland, the nation’s largest medical marijuana dispensary, were preparing to invoke the abrupt change in federal law to fend off U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag’s two-year effort to shut Harborside down and forfeit its property. read more

Sponsored by two California congressmen, Republican Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach (Orange County) and Democrat Sam Farr of Carmel, the amendment prohibits the government from spending money to prevent 32 states - California and 21 others that allow the medical use of marijuana, and 10 more that legalize hemp oils - from “implementing their own state laws.” read more