serviam spotlight
Find our legal alerts, news releases, case updates, community tips, and more.
Serviam Partner Teaches CPOA Police Course on Supervisory Decisions That Make-or-Break Litigation
Kayla Watson, Partner at Serviam by Wright LLP, recently instructed “Supervisory Decisions That Make-or-Break Litigation,” a two-hour virtual presentation offered through the California Peace Officers’ Association (CPOA). The session drew law enforcement supervisors, command staff, and the risk management and legal personnel who support them. The premise was straightforward. By the time a civil complaint is filed, the supervisory record is already fixed. Who assumed command. What was documented. Which report was approved, and what that report failed to articulate. Whether a policy was enforced consistently or selectively. Ms. Watson walked attendees through that record from the perspective of the attorneys who eventually read it—both the plaintiff’s counsel building a claim and the defense counsel working to hold the line. Supervisory Conduct as Litigation Exposure Ms. Watson opened by mapping the litigation framework supervisors operate within, whether or not they are aware of it. Civil claims against California law enforcement agencies rarely stop at the officer who acted. Plaintiffs’ attorneys routinely pursue supervisors...
Serviam Attorneys Teach Legal Courses Across CACEO’s Code Enforcement Academies
In California, code enforcement is a certifiable profession. Officers can earn that credential through the California Association of Code Enforcement Officers (CACEO) Code Academy, a three-module sequence that carries them from constitutional fundamentals through the most complex enforcement tools available to a public agency. Serviam Managing Partner Curtis Wright teaches many of the legal aspect courses. He instructs at Module One, Module Two, and Module Three academies held throughout the state, covering Fourth Amendment law and property ownership at the foundational level, warrants and testimony at the intermediate level, and receiverships, cannabis enforcement, the Public Records Act, and cost recovery at the advanced level. Code Enforcement Expertise That Is Taught, Not Just Claimed There is a meaningful difference between an attorney who has read the law and an attorney trusted to teach it to the officers who enforce it. Teaching the academy curriculum requires command of the material at a level that survives questions from a room full of practitioners who will apply it in the field. That role also keeps Serviam close to the profession it serves. ...
MOST Recent
LATEST SERVIAM SPOTLIGHT ARTICLES
