Podcast

Most cases that reach the Supreme Court live and die on the “shadow docket.” That is the name given to the docket where everything other than full merits decisions happens. Most prominently, that is where the Supreme Court decides whether to grant stays of orders pending appeal, such as abortion-rights cases, voter redistricting cases, immigration...Read More >>

A good trial involves heroes and villains, themes of good and evil, tense conflicts, and, at the end, a difficult moral choice. All stuff that could make a few good movies. Gary Wax is a filmmaker-turned-appellate lawyer, and he brings his insider’s eye and his top-500 list to help us analyze some of the best...Read More >>

9th Circuit expert Cory Webster joins us to discuss several recent decisions out of the 9th Circuit. On this episode, we discuss:   Cory Webster’s biography and LinkedIn profile. 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...Read More >>

WARNING: This episode contains opinions of a law-nerd nature. Discretion is advised. Have you ever encountered the parenthetical “(cleaned up)” at the end of a case citation? By now over 5,000 judicial opinions in nearly ever jurisdiction have used it, including the U.S. Supreme Court. So it’s time you got acquainted with it. The credit...Read More >>

As a former Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice, Jennifer Novak now serves as a “Rosetta Stone” in her private practice translating complicated environmental rules to businesses and individuals in environmental disputes. Jennifer tells us her secrets how to convey complicated issues as a subject-matter specialist to generalists on the bench. Then...Read More >>

Improper conduct by a trial judge is one thing. But where do you take complaints against an appellate court? Supreme Court Associate Justice Martin Jenkins heads up a new Bias Prevention Committee, and committee member Ben Shatz joins us to talk about its mission: to promote an appellate court environment free of bias and the...Read More >>

Our regular roundup of noteworthy appellate decisions and legal news includes these stories: ⚠Did a Covid-era jury cut short its deliberations (to just one hour) because it wanted to get out of the cramped jury room? Plaintiff thought so, but did not make a record of having raised a timely objection. Held: Objection forfeited. ⚠Did...Read More >>

ADF attorney Chris Schandevel explains how he got the opportunity to orally argue dozens of cases in multiple appellate courts including state supreme courts in just a decade of practice. We also discuss: ‍⚖️Does oral argument make a different? Can amicus briefs make a difference? Yes, and one case proves it: Chris talk about Kligler...Read More >>

The National Center of State Courts recently published its 2023 rankings of judicial salaries, with California and DC trading #1 and #2 spots. At a mean national judicial salary of around $174,000, by starting out in a modest condo and scrimping and saving, a judge in California might achieve the dream of homeownership just before...Read More >>

Opioids, takings, terrorism—these are at the core of a few of the cases that appellate attorney Carl Cecere is handling. After deciding to leave BigLaw, Carl found that a combination of Twitter and lots of travel with the purpose of meeting interesting colleagues has fueled a pipeline of provocative cases into his solo practice. We...Read More >>

Anti-SLAPP denials are appealable in the 9th Circuit, but Judge Bress says they shouldn’t be. Jeff proposes two SLAPP reforms: Judges should issue more sanctions against frivolous SLAPP motions. The Legislature should amend the statute so that SLAPP denials are reviewable only by way of writs. Jeff tries to stump Tim on a SLAPP appeal...Read More >>

On this April 2023 cases & tidbits episode, we warn about several cases where an appeal is lost because of failure to appreciate the appellate deadlines—which are often tricky to determine: Zen riddle: If you never received a Notice of Entry or stamped order, then does the 60-day deadline begin to run? Answer: Upon mailing....Read More >>

Adam Unikowsky, an appellate litigator with nine appearance in the U.S. Supreme Court, argues that judicial law clerks could be replaced by AI. We discuss: “AI will make judges release more accurate decisions more quickly. This is good.” Judges already rely on clerk summaries, so if AI produces better summaries faster, that is good. AI...Read More >>

AI, they say, will revolutionize the practice of law. But can it do anything for my actual practice, as in, the case I am working on right now? Prof. Jayne Woods joins us to explain how she used ChatGPT—the question-and-answer AI interface—to draft a very passable first draft of an oral argument outline. Even better,...Read More >>

A few days ago we mentioned Tim is opening a satellite office in Texas, which means expanding the podcast’s jurisdiction. So in this episode we take care of some business with the proprietors of the Texas Appellate Law Podcast, Todd Smith and Jody Sanders. Todd and Jody had the same idea during the pandemic to...Read More >>

As the prevailing party defending an order on appeal, you know the odds are in your favor. Statistically, 75-80% of judgments are affirmed on appeal. But 25% is still worse odds than Russian Roulette. So on this episode of the California Appellate Law Podcast, Jeff and I discuss some tips to seize maximum advantage of...Read More >>

Appellate practitioner and former Florida Supreme Court career staff attorney Lindsey Lawton sits down with us to talk legal writing. For Lindsey, writing is not just her day job, she draws influence for use and enjoyment of the written word from beyond legal briefs. While she maintains a grammar beat on LinkedIn, Lindsey says language...Read More >>

Appellate attorney John Nielsen is forever grateful to his mentors when he was a young attorney, and he pays it forward now both as a mentor himself and by offering tips on legal writing published at the Appellate Advocacy Blog. John discusses his approach to training young associates, and to legal writing. Then we turn...Read More >>

This podcast is often a soapbox for complaining about oddities in the California court system. But then we wondered: are the courts in other states better? Maybe they’re the same—or worse. So we thought we should start a conversation with a couple of attorneys on their own soap box in Chicago, Dan Cotter and Pat...Read More >>

The 100th episode of the Portia Project®️ airs today, March 2, 2023, kicking off Women’s History Month. The Portia Project Podcast features women judges, attorneys, and other legal professionals, chronicling their unique paths in the law. Subscribe in your podcast player, or listen and learn more here. In anticipation of this achievement, we interviewed M.C....Read More >>

You trial attorneys have a job to do. That job is to win the trial. And you can’t always do that and win the appeal at the same time. So you can’t pick a fight on every point. But, you had better fight the ones that turn the case. And, you had better make a...Read More >>

For attorneys, the best referral is a referral from another attorney. But before you refer to another attorney, beware of the ethical traps. Kristi Thomas, a labor and employment attorney who also focuses on ethical issue, warns in a recent article that incautious referrals can lead to a conflict of interest, or an improper referral...Read More >>

The issue that most often drags appeals back into more litigation is attorney fee and costs. What happens when, while focusing on the appeal, the prevailing party gets a substantial award of fees and costs? Do you have to separately appeal from the fees and costs award? (Yes…usually.) How can you stay enforcement of the...Read More >>

On this cases-and-tidbits episode, Jeff Lewis and I discuss: Ramirez v. Avon Products: There is no “corporate representative” or PMQ exception to hearsay and foundation objections. So summary judgment had to be reversed. Flickinger v. Finwall: Do you ever worry your prelitigation demand letters may be construed as extortion? I mean, Flatley v. Mauro shows...Read More >>

With his background as a brewery owner, business litigator Greg Nylen defends attorneys from “the triumvirate” of unfair-competition claims: the Unfair Competition Law, the False Advertising Law, and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Greg shares some trends, tips, and traps emerging in this space, including: Courts are getting a bit more stringent on the “reasonable...Read More >>

The autism pandemic now affects between 1-in-44 and 1-in-35 children by the age of 8, according to a December 2021 Rutgers report—a rate that has climbed some 241% since 2000. And one of the big ways this affects the millions of families raising children with autism is obtaining and fulfilling IEPs—Individualized Education Programs. Special-education law...Read More >>

Gearing up for trial with experts? You’re ready with your Sargon and Sanchez objections. But don’t forget Kelly: if the expert’s opinion is outside the consensus, that’s not a Sargon objection—you have to be ready with a People v. Kelly objection. Filing an MSJ? If the court sets your hearing after your trial date, you’re entitled to get it advanced—or to have your trial...Read More >>

In this roundup episode, we summarize the best tips for briefing, argument, and overall advocacy from the judges, attorneys, and specialists Jeff Lewis and I interviewed on the California Appellate Law Podcast in 2022. Some of the tips and trends we cover: There is a trend toward informality in legal writing—but do pop-culture references go...Read More >>

The reason there are so few medical-malpractice attorneys is that, on top of having to overcome juries’ strong pro-doctor bias, damages caps turn even the most hard-fought wins into mere break-even propositions. So how did Ben Ikuta, a new guard med-mal attorney, amassed over $17 million in client victories in 2022 alone? Ben shares some...Read More >>

What does an appeal look like after having done 2,000 of them? John Dodd is one of the few people with that vantage. A former staff attorney at the Court of Appeal who has volunteered on the juvenile-dependency panel along with his civil appeals practice, John explains how “an appeal is an appeal.” Once you...Read More >>