wo explosive First Amendment cases from the Ninth Circuit—culture-war flashpoints are reshaping speech & religious-freedom doctrine… and judicial decorum. In B.B. v. Capistrano Unified, the court held that elementary students have enforceable free speech rights under *Tinker*, vacating summary judgment after a first grader was disciplined for giving a classmate a sweet drawing that ran...
Justice Kagan has more words about the emergency docket aka shadow docket. This one is about the 9th Circuit panel injunction of California's law requiring school officials not to share with parents when their children present as trans. The Supreme Court keeps the injunction in effect. And on the fee award front, big firms don't...
Three paradoxes feature in this episode: Paradox 1: You must disclose a bankruptcy stay to the Court of Appeal. What about a bankruptcy that does not create a stay? Answer: Yes, the disclose-bk-stay rule also means disclose a bk non-stay. Paradox 2: Deadbeat dad owes $500k. He settles and agrees to pay $250k. How much...
In Part 2 of our conversation with Michael Shipley, Tim and Jeff dig into the real-world fallout of California's no-horizontal-stare-decisis rule — and the structural fix Shipley has been developing to address it.Shipley walks Tim and Jeff through his proposed "mini-en banc" transfer mechanism — a way for the California Supreme Court to empower a...
California is the largest common-law jurisdiction where appellate courts don't follow each other—and it happened by accident. In Part 1 of this two-part episode, Michael Shipley explains how Bernard Witkin’s treatise reflections on case dicta became binding law, why the federal circuit model works differently, and what the rule costs practitioners and trial judges every...
Is your AI training data biased? And is using AI-generated reasoning plagiarism? James Mixon, Managing Attorney at California's Second District Court of Appeal, covers troubling topics on how lawyers should, and should not, use AI. In this second part of Tim and Jeff’s conversation, James discusses how we can detect and counteract bias baked into...
In the first half of their conversation with James Mixon, Managing Attorney at California's Second District Court of Appeal, Tim Kowal and Jeff Lewis ask what is healthy AI use, and unhealthy use? To help organize—yes! To replace judgment—no! Tip: When an attorney does not read AI output before filing a brief, expect sanctions. Disclaimer:...
Lemon Law lawyer Michelle Fonseca-Kamana discusses the seismic shifts in California lemon law—from the Supreme Court's decision in Rodriguez v. FCA US LLC (October 31, 2024) 17 Cal.5th 189 that effectively eliminated most used car claims, to the explosion in case filings (from 4,500 in 2015 to over 22,000 in 2023), to new legislative reforms under...
Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: Administering vaccines without disclosing contraindications can get your license pulled. If you're a veterinarian, that is. (There are far lighter penalties, I'm afraid, for lackadaisical administration of human vaccines.) Deol v. California Veterinary...
Even if the client “earnestly believes” something to be true—and even if you, the attorney, “earnestly believe” it—without evidence, you can’t say it in court. Publishing its opinion in N.D. v. E.F. (D4d3 Jan. 20, 2026) case no. G066061 (nonpub. opn.) as a “cautionary tale,” attorney T. Matthew Phillips gets sanctioned $25,000 for violating this...
Prevail at arbitration? Make sure your arbitrator rules on your fees and costs, or they may be waived. And no, voluntarily paying a judgment does not automatically forfeit your appeal. Usually. Those two potential pitfalls arose in Garrett & Tully, P.C., v. Aliso Properties, LLC, et al., (D2d3, Dec. 9, 2025, No. B332463) (non-pub. opn.)....
You have to literally disobey an order in California to be held in contempt. But federal courts are a little more touchy-feely: they will find a contempt for violating the “spirit” of their orders. Tim and Jeff compare the Ninth Circuit's contempt finding against Apple in the *Epic Games* dispute, and a state litigant who...
California’s New Legal Rules for 2026: AI, Photo Proof of Service, and Simpler Statements of Decision New statutes and court rules taking effect in 2026 and 2027 will change how California lawyers serve papers, preserve appellate issues, and disclose their use of artificial intelligence. Appellate attorneys Tim Kowal and Jeff Lewis focus on what actually...
AI-sanctions might get eyeballs, but the bigger sanctions are still for plain old bad lawyering. Jeff also raises this ethical and pragmatic question: who defends the lawyer when sanctions threaten the client? Should counsel facing an OSC retain separate counsel for the sanctions component to avoid divided attention and better protect client interests? What if...
A scandalous Netflix documentary called an unconventional sex-based therapy business an “orgasm cult,” all based on a sole source whose account has several flaws. But the Court of Appeal dismissed the defamation case on anti-SLAPP grounds. Tim and Jeff discuss whether any California defamation case against a media company could survive the one-two punch of...
Want to know why bad AI cites really bother the courts? Jeff and Tim discuss two recent fake-AI-cites cases imposing sanctions and State Bar referrals, and draw this conclusion: It’s not that AI is bad at law—in one of these cases, the court noted that none of the AI mistakes even went in the direction...
The California Supreme Court’s long-awaited "Taking Offense" decision on gender pronouns in elder care facilities introduces a new “captive audience” exception to the First Amendment. Tim worries this new judicial carve out may creep to other forums; Jeff is unperturbed. Tim also shares insights from the Federalist Society National Conference, before examining a significant appellate-fee...
Jimmy Azadian is often in the room when federal judges get together to share their personal concerns about the job. When judges are asked to come speak to a group, Jimmy reports that top of mind are the recent threats to judges and the courts—whether from armed vigilantes, protesters, students, or senators. Jimmy, Tim, and...
AI Reshapes Legal Practice: ClioCon 2025 Delivers a Wake-Up Call Jeff Lewis reports from the 2025 Clio Cloud Conference in Boston. Day 1 was encouraging, but Jeff reports feeling Day 2 as a “gut punch”: within about 5-10 years, many fundamentals of legal practice will be unrecognizable. Here are a few ways legal industry leaders...
Few lawyers and LRW instructors write and think more about AI than Professor Jane Woods of Mizzou Law, who offers this most important AI advice: If you haven’t read the case, don’t cite the case. Jeff thinks our business and even this podcast will be aped by robots by this time next year. Until then,...
As an attorney, you might not be surprised to learn that—if you file serial meritless lawsuits in pro per—you, too, may be deemed a vexatious litigant. File five unsuccessful lawsuits within seven years, and that’s what happens. But you might not realize that appeals count toward your five-lawsuit limit. That was the outcome in the...
The Law360 article on the Ninth Circuit’s en banc decision in Gopher Media LLC v. Melone features quotes California Appellate Law Podcast co-hosts Jeff Lewis and me on the significant shift in how anti-SLAPP motions are handled in federal courts, overturning more than two decades of Ninth Circuit precedent. The Ninth Circuit held that denials...
Just a couple years ago when we talked with Ernie Svenson, the attorney who talks tech fluently, AI was not even a thing. Now in late 2025, it’s the only thing. Ernie joins Tim and Jeff to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of AI in legal practice, why AI gives small firms an advantage, and...
Anti-SLAPP denials are no longer immediately appealable in the Ninth Circuit. That was the en banc holding in Gopher Media LLC v. Melone (9th Cir., Oct. 9, 2025, No. 24-2626) 2025 WL 2858761, which overruled Batzel v. Smith. But still hotly debated in whether the Ninth Circuit will continue to entertain anti-SLAPP motions at all....
Teaching Judges: Appellate Expert Cherise Bacalski on Brief Writing and the Human Side of Law In this compelling episode, Tim Kowal interviews Cherise Bacalski, a Western United States appellate specialist and writing coach at NYU Law's New Appellate Judges Program, about her insights from both sides of the bench and how her background in rhetoric...
Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention: Seeking Family Code 2020/2032 need-based fees? Don't forget to establish the incurred fees as reasonable. Fees reversed because they were for discovery motions not even ruled on yet. (But on remand expect the...
The AI “deepfake” videos offered in support of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment in this Superior Court case goes way beyond the innocent AI “hallucinations” more commonly reported. Plaintiff in Mendones v. Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., (Cal. Super. Ct. Alameda Cnty. Sept. 9, 2025 No. 23CV028772) submitted two videos that the trial judge easily concluded...
Appealing in the 9th Circuit? Your deadline is 30 days. Don’t let Rule 58’s “separate document” extension lead you astray. Appellate specialists Tim Kowal and Jeff Lewis also discuss ChatGPT 5 (a “market disruptor”), and sanctions strategies in federal court. And more practical insights on navigating procedural pitfalls, avoiding sanctions, and ethically incorporating AI tools...
Appealing in the 9th Circuit? Your deadline is 30 days. But sometimes the court makes certain rulings that are appealable but without a formal order—and that’s where FRCP 58 comes in, which says that those rulings are not deemed “entered,” and so the 30-day appeal deadline doesn’t yet run, until 150 days later. But in...
Failing to cite your secondary sources in briefs is poor form. But is it plagiarism? Jeff and Tim debate. And when the Supreme Court The publishes a case, should it explain itself? PJ Gilbert and Tim say yes, Supreme Court and Jeff disagree. Also in this episode: Tune in for AI ethics, briefing blunders, and...
