The California Appellate Law Podcast

Even if you technically can’t use an electronic recording to create the appellate record, trial courts do provide them for us in your closing argument PowerPoint. Jeff shares his experience. And after spending most of a morning watching oral arguments waiting for his case, Jeff offers these tips: It took 20 minutes of argument time just for the panel to get its head around who was who in a case fu...

Here’s a trap door to avoid: if you are trying to expedite an appeal by dismissing remaining claims, do not use the Judicial Council dismissal form. Instead, you need a judge-signed dismissal. While Jeff is still in trial, Tim covers Maniago v. Desert Cardiology Consultants' Medical Group, Inc. (Jan. 30, 2025, No. D085025) 2025 WL 617972. The plaintiff dismissed his remaining claims after his...

All eyes are on the electronic-recording original proceeding in the Supreme Court, Family Violence Appellate Panel v. Superior Court , and the Court’s recent order to show cause why, when a court reporter can’t be found, California’s trial courts should not be ordered to hit the “record” button. This could this be the most significant advancement in electronic court recording in decades. But it ra...

Please AI responsibly: Attorneys at a major law firm are making use of ChatGPT. That's not a bad thing normally, but filling in legal cites is not what it's for. The unchecked ChatGPT cases were fake at a rate of 8 out of 9 total cases in a single brief. On this recent legal news episode Jeff and Tim cover: How to AI responsibly (and not get sanctioned). How to challenge arbitration resp...

Your check for arbitration fees gets delayed in the mail. Under a particularly harsh pay-or-waive provision of the California Arbitration Act, if your fee is received on day 31, too bad—your arbitration rights go Poof! Or do they? There’s currently a big split among the appellate courts on this. Tim goes solo while Jeff is still in trial, covering several of the recent cases on both sides of the s...

The San Bernardino Superior Court electronically records trial. Can Jeff use the recording as the appellate record? Short answer: no. But there’s an original writ pending in the Supreme Court on a similar issue, so watch this space. We also cover: Jury Fee Hike, Paid by State Fund—but for how long? Shehi v. Chicago Title Insurance Co. —attorney disqualification is appealable, but expert witness ex...

Jeff is in trial, so take in a few quick summaries of recent cases and get back to billing: Incivility cost attorney $340,000 in fee reduction. Clip-n-save the recent controlling case on this point, Karton v. Ari Design & Construction, Inc. : "Excellent lawyers deserve higher fees, and excellent lawyers are civil.” Don’t let the trial court deny relief before you’ve asked for it. Lost the...

There was a bit in an old radio show (Kevin-and-Bean KROQ old, not Little Orphan Annie old) had Ralph Garman review movies he’d never seen, based only on watching the trailers. In this episode, we review some cases we haven’t read. We discuss the cases below, which lead to some good tangents. When discovery objections have been waived, does serving responses that still contain the waived objection...

This is why your teenagers are anxious: TikTok’s fate hangs in the balance at the Supreme Court. We discuss the recent oral arguments, and Donald Trump’s amicus brief asking the Court to sit tight and he’ll make a fantastic deal that will be fantastic and make the Court very happy and everyone will be very happy. (That is the best Trump impression I can do in written form 🤷). And what does it mea...

Here is our 2024 roundup, and in exchange we have a request for suggestions for 2025 content. If you are an attorney, what content do you prefer? Check out the poll . Now here’s the roundup of updates for 2025: 📅 MSJ Deadlines Are Updated: Remember 81-20-11. With the MSJ hearing as the target, motions must be filed beforehand 81 days, oppositions 20 days, and replies 11 days. 🥈 Making a 2nd atte...

Jackie Gardina shares dispatches from the Blue Ribbon Commission on reforming the Bar Exam, covering recent reforms, the ongoing debate about the exam’s effectiveness, and the rise of alternative pathways to legal licensure. Some takeaways: 💯 Yes, the passing score was dropped—but don’t worry, the old one was picked out of a hat (basically). 🗯️“End the bar exam?! But that’s how it’s always been d...

There is a 700-appellate case backlog in Los Angeles and only around 450 attorneys on the California Appellate Project—Los Angeles panel. CAP-LA attorneys Jennifer Hansen and Jennifer Peabody share how the rest of us can pitch in to assuage this gap in the administration of justice. Why work as a panel attorney? Get appellate experience. Work with an experienced appellate attorney. Flexible schedu...

Attorneys still wrestling with Microsoft Word to finish a brief need to be acquainted with Chris Dralla’s product Typelaw, the groundbreaking tool that lets attorneys turn plain text into fully formatted, cited, hyperlinked, local rule-compliant briefs. If your practice depends on producing high-quality briefs, here is why you need Typelaw in your life: Typelaw reduces non-billable time spent on t...

In this episode, Tim and Jeff dive into the recent heated exchange between Fifth Circuit Judge Edith Jones and Georgetown Professor Stephen Vladeck at the Federalist Society’s Lawyers National Lawyers Conference. The debate centered on the tension between judicial independence and the criticism of judge shopping in high-profile cases. Tim and Jeff analyze the arguments from both sides, unpacking t...

Responding to a decades-long lack of court reporters, the Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2024 ordered that electronic recordings may be made. This arguably violates a statute prohibiting the use of electronic recordings. But Erin Smith, co-founder of the Family Violence Appellate Project, explains why the lack of meaningful access to an appellate record is a constitutional crisis. She exp...

Erin Smith’s Family Violence Appellate Project has over 50 published cases under its belt—which is even more impressive considering how difficult it is to get a good record in these cases. In this first part of our conversation, we discuss the FVAP’s work, and the kind of mistakes trial judges make in domestic violence cases. Erin Smith’s biography and LinkedIn profile . Appellate Specialist Jeff...

Couldn’t make this year’s ClioCon? Don’t know why you would if you could? Jeff is on location in Austin, Texas, and reports in on the latest legal tech trends, like: The death of the billable hour? A review of attorney tasks suggests 70% could be done with AI. This could mean more shops switch to flat fees. It could mean they increase their hourly rates. But if you’re not even in the AI game, you...

In a (non)definitive survey of writing instruments, big-law attorney turned solo employer counsel Michelle Strowhiro reveals her pick for the best pen for lawyers. Then we turn to the U.S. District Court of Texas ruling in Ryan LLC v. FTC, blocking an FTC rule that would ban non-competes. This rule would eliminate trade restraints already banned in California. What comes next? Michelle Strowhiro’s...

The Supreme Court of California isn’t always interested in money disputes, but throw attorney misconduct into the mix and you get the City of LA v. Pricewaterhousecoopers reinstating a sanction for “egregious” city attorney’s office collusion totaling $2.5 million. Angling for contractual attorneys’ fees in your defense? The recent Am. Bldg. Innovation v. Balfour Beatty Constr. case reminds attorn...

Los Angeles Superior Court will now offer electronic recordings where a court reporter is not available. But not all courts have the equipment. And even if they do, by statute these recordings may not be used to create an appellate record. So what does it mean? Also, the Supreme Court in Meinhardt v. City of Sunnyvale has confirmed that orders granting writs of mandamus are not appealable—you have...

After discussing SCOTUS voting blocs and public perception, in part two of our discussion Adam Feldman rounds up the 2023-2024 term. We cover: SEC v. Jarkesy, holding that 7th Amendment procedural rights apply in agency proceedings, and whether Adam is surprised at the voting alignment (conservatives pro, liberals con). Loper Bright v. Raimondo, overruling Chevron , and what to make of the liberal...

Adam Feldman watches Supreme Court trends: voting blocs both usual and unusual, numbers of concurring and dissenting opinions, and other analytical ways of predicting outcomes. In our discussion, we cover: Recent polls disapprove of how the Supreme Court “is handling its job.” What does “handling its job” mean? Does it mean outcomes, or the decision-making process? And how does Adam rate how the S...

While the Supreme Court wrapped up its term, the Ninth Circuit had some interesting cases of its own. Carjacking is “nonviolent,” for-profit prisons are constitutional, and Covid vaccine religious exemptions are on the table. Practitioners might also look forward to focus letters and earlier panel notifications. All this and other recent cases and news. Carjacking is nonviolent? Gutierrez v. Garla...

A ransomware attack hit the Los Angeles County Superior Court in July 2024, affecting e-filing services. Did you miss a filing deadline because of this? We discuss two Rules of Court that could help. We also cover: Are anti-SLAPP orders “judgments”? Court of Appeal to litigants: Your adverbs are unwelcome here. Ok to say “The order is erroneous.” But not “The order is transparently erroneous.” App...

Previously in part one, criminal-defense attorney Don Hammond explained why, post- Bruen , states may no longer impose discretionary constraints in concealed-carry permitting regimes. But will that change after the Supreme Court’s recent 8-1 decision in Rahimi , holding that a restraining order prohibiting a particularly violent actor from possessing firearms was consistent with the Second Amendme...