Podcast

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...Read More >>

After discussing SCOTUS voting blocs and public perception, in part two of our discussion Adam Feldman rounds up the 2023-2024 term. We cover: Adam Feldman biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Tim Kowal's biography, LinkedIn profile, Twitter feed, and YouTube page. Sign up...Read More >>

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: We then tee things up to do a round up of the 2023-2024 term. Adam Feldman biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Jeff...Read More >>

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. Appellate...Read More >>

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: Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Tim Kowal's biography, LinkedIn profile, Twitter...Read More >>

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 Amendment tests...Read More >>

Justice Anita Earls of the North Carolina Supreme Court knows about some reforms that will improve our justice system. But she also knows about some that will provoke an unhappy response—including an investigation against her personally. In this second half of our interview, Justice Earls talks about how she found herself under investigation for calling...Read More >>

Just because you’re law-abiding doesn’t mean you won’t need a criminal-defense attorney. There are more criminal laws in federal and California state law books than you could read in a decade. (I asked ChatGPT: if you printed them all out, they would be taller than the 24-story AT&T building in San Diego.) Enter Criminal Defense...Read More >>

Justice Anita Earls of the North Carolina Supreme Court knows about some reforms that will improve our justice system. But she also knows about some that will provoke an unhappy response—including an investigation against her personally. In this first part of our interview, we discuss Justice Earls’ path from a 30-year civil rights attorney to...Read More >>

We have a few big cases to cover: Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Tim Kowal's biography, LinkedIn profile, Twitter feed, and YouTube page. Sign up for Not To Be Published, Tim Kowal’s weekly legal update, or view his blog of recent cases. Other items discussed in the episode:...Read More >>

John Sylvester was the counsel of record in the controversial Abdelqader v. Abraham published opinion. In the previous episode we discussed why it was controversial. (Short version: because the Court of Appeal, sub silentio, thumbed its nose at the Supreme Court and concluded that a missing finding required by statute gives you a an automatic...Read More >>

John Sylvester was the counsel of record in the controversial Abdelqader v. Abraham published opinion. Why was it controversial? Because the Court of Appeal thumbed its nose at the Supreme Court, which had held in F.P. v. Monier that just because the trial judge forgets to make a required written finding you don’t get an...Read More >>

Every attorney has felt the concern over a growing receivable, and the frustration of a nonpaying client. In the continuation of our discussion in the last episode, Carl Mueller shares his top 10 tips to avoid them and win them. The tips include: Carl I. S. Mueller’s biography, LinkedIn profile. Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography,...Read More >>

Every attorney has felt the concern over a growing receivable, and the frustration of a nonpaying client. Carl Mueller litigates these billing disputes and explains what attorneys should know to avoid them and to win them: In the next episode, we will cover Carl’s top 10 tips for avoiding a fee dispute. Carl I. S....Read More >>

Appellate justices’ research attorneys are the ones advising the justices about your arguments and writing the opinions. We discuss 10 tips offered at a recent Orange County Bar Association event. Here is a taste: 😮 Biggest surprise: The Court of Appeal wants hyperlinked briefs. They want to be able to click on your record cites...Read More >>

Last time, we set the table with special-education attorney Tim Adams to discuss the big 9th Circuit win for parents of kids with IEPs (individualized education protocols). Now we dig in to Irvine Unified School District v. Landers and Gagliano. After covering the fact that the school district, to get out of helping a dyslexic...Read More >>

A big 9th Circuit win for parents of kids with IEPs (individualized education protocols) came down recently, and the prevailing attorney is podcast alum Tim Adams. In the first of this two-part discussion, we set the table to discuss Irvine Unified School District v. Landers and Gagliano. For example, to understand why parents trying to...Read More >>

Are you expecting a lawsuit? And do you want to get that lawsuit into federal court? If your client is domiciled in California, you need to know about “snap removals.” If you get wind of the lawsuit before it is served, you might be able to defeat the removal-bar on home-state defendants. But don’t commit...Read More >>

Racial minorities are sometimes removed from prospective juries—just like everybody else. But the Legislature is so concerned that this could happen on the (obviously improper) basis of race that the Racial Justice Act prohibits a challenge to a racial minority even on the basis of proper factors, such as lack of life experience. And if...Read More >>

The U.S. Supreme Court provides awaited guidance on public officials’ use of social media, and the California Supreme Court gives a cautionary tale about waiving the right to a jury trial. Jeff and I discuss: Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Tim Kowal's biography, LinkedIn profile, Twitter feed, and...Read More >>

Raffi Melkonian has argued and won in the U.S. Supreme Court, and started the #AppellateTwitter community of appellate attorneys on Twitter/X, where he has over 65,000 followers, and speaks and writes on appeals across the country. And Raffi is here to tell you that building a business on an appellate practice—even a very successful one—is...Read More >>

We discuss how to avoid appellate sanctions, and an unusually successful motion for reconsideration: We also discuss a case on the Racial Justice Act, a rare case reversed for lack of substantial evidence, and a Public Records Act case. Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Tim Kowal's biography, LinkedIn...Read More >>

There are 30,000 law clerks in the U.S., and we have no good way to know to judge their experiences. So Judge Douglas Nazarian of the Appellate Court of Maryland—and board member of the Legal Accountability Project—asks judges everywhere to take the LAP Pledge. The Project hosts a growing database of survey responses from judicial...Read More >>

You thought health and wellness was just for hippies, losers and weirdos. But you were wrong. Leslie Porter explains that if you are waiting for your health issues to become acute enough for a prescription, you are not at your best. Not only are you laying the groundwork for possible big problems down the road,...Read More >>

Next time your opposing counsel takes issue with something you say, don’t be surprised to find a complaint in the next filing citing to rule 8.3 of the Rules of Professional Conduct—the new “snitch rule.” There are about a dozen terms of legal art in the snitch rule, so we asked Judge Meredith Jury (Ret.)...Read More >>

Just a few years out of law school, Kyle O’Malley won a landmark case in the Supreme Court of California. The employer’s screening service in *Raines v. US Healthworks Medical Group*, 15 Cal.5th 268 (2023) used a generic questionnaire asking about menstrual cycles, hemorrhoids, hair loss, and all sorts of fool questions not tailored to...Read More >>

The 9th Circuit is taking up the ostensible narrow issue of appealability of anti-SLAPP orders. But it could be broader. Much broader. If the court decides anti-SLAPPs are procedural rather than substantive, says Cory Webster, that would mean no more anti-SLAPP motions in federal court. We also discuss that recent panel that departed from an...Read More >>

The Supreme Court has granted cert on whether prosecuting a homeless sidewalk-camper is cruel and unusual punishment. And the 9th Circuit has granted en banc review whether anti-SLAPP denials are appealable. Also: You are doing MSJ separate statements wrong (maybe). There are two schools of thought, and the Court of Appeal in a partially published...Read More >>

California law now provides for initial discovery disclosures. Get a template handy for your upcoming cases. And watch out for the new minimum $1,000 sanction for discovery misconduct. And some recent cases:   Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Tim Kowal's biography, LinkedIn profile, Twitter feed, and YouTube page....Read More >>

Yisrael Gelb focuses his appellate practice on helping plaintiff lawyers beat summary judgment. We talk about some of his approaches to successfully opposing summary judgment motions, including: We also discuss Yisrael’s new podcast for plaintiffs’ attorneys, going by the provocative title, “The Ambulance Chasers.”   Yisrael Gelb’s biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist...Read More >>