Teaching Justices to Write: Cherise Bacalski

Tim Kowal October 7, 2025

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 shapes her approach to appellate advocacy.

The rule is king: Bacalski explains that whatever rule you're working with should inform every section of your brief, including headings, subheadings, and narrative structure to create a cohesive argument that guides the reader.
Know your hostile reader: Judges are busy humans with better things to do than read your brief, making reader empathy essential—briefs must be clear, concise, skimmable, and easy to digest.
Lead with old information: One of the most effective writing principles is beginning each new point with familiar information to propel readers forward at the speed of thought, reducing the need for excessive explanation.
The human element: After 11-12 years of practice, Bacalski's main takeaway is that "the law is human"—created by humans, enforced by humans, and limited by humans—requiring advocates to understand this reality.
AI as tool, not replacement: While Bacalski uses AI to test arguments and identify weaknesses in briefs, she emphasizes the importance of human judgment, noting AI sometimes misses critical "smoking gun" evidence in case analysis.
Training new judges: At NYU, Bacalski teaches newly appointed appellate judges how to make their opinions more readable through proper structure, headings, and organization—skills that help both judges and practitioners.

Tune in for a masterclass in appellate advocacy that bridges the gap between academic rhetoric and practical legal persuasion from an attorney who's seen the system from multiple perspectives.

Cherise Bacalski’s 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.

Other items discussed in the episode:

Videos from this episode will be posted at Tim Kowal’s YouTube channel.

Tim Kowal is an appellate specialist certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. Tim helps trial attorneys and clients win their cases and avoid error on appeal. He co-hosts the Cal. Appellate Law Podcast at CALpodcast.com, and publishes summaries of cases and appellate tips for trial attorneys. Contact Tim at Tim@KowalLawGroup.com or (949) 676-9989.

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"Counsel on the firing line in an actual trial must be prepared for surprises, including requests for amendments of pleading. They cannot ask that a judgment afterwards obtained be set aside merely because their equilibrium was slightly disturbed by an unexpected motion."

— Posz v. Burchell (1962) 209 Cal.App.2d 324, 334

"So far as the beginnings of law had theories, the first theory of liability was in terms of a duty to buy off the vengeance of him to whom an injury had been done whether by oneself or by something in one's power. The idea is put strikingly in the Anglo-Saxon legal proverb, 'Buy spear from side or bear it,' that is, buy off the feud or fight it out."

— Roscoe Pound, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law

"It may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic. I should be sorry to think that it is anything else."

— Hon. Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of Australia

"Upon putting laws into writing, they became even harder to change than before, and a hundred legal fictions rose to reconcile them with reality."

— Will Durant

Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly.

— Leviticus

"A judge is a law student who grades his own papers."

— H.L. Mencken

"At common law, barratry was 'the offense of frequently exciting and stirring up suits and quarrels' (4 Blackstone, Commentaries 134) and was punished as a misdemeanor."

— Rubin v. Green (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1187

"Moot points have to be settled somehow, once they get thrust upon us. If an assertion cannot be proved, then it must be settled some other way, and nearly all of these ways are unfair to somebody."

—T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?”

— James Madison, Federalist 62

"God made the angels to show Him splendor, … Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind."

— Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons

Teaching Justices to Write: Cherise Bacalski

Other items discussed in the episode:

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"It may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic. I should be sorry to think that it is anything else." — Hon. Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of Australia

"Upon putting laws into writing, they became even harder to change than before, and a hundred legal fictions rose to reconcile them with reality." — Will Durant

Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. — Leviticus

"A judge is a law student who grades his own papers." — H.L. Mencken

"At common law, barratry was 'the offense of frequently exciting and stirring up suits and quarrels' (4 Blackstone, Commentaries 134) and was punished as a misdemeanor." — Rubin v. Green (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1187

"Moot points have to be settled somehow, once they get thrust upon us. If an assertion cannot be proved, then it must be settled some other way, and nearly all of these ways are unfair to somebody." —T.H. White, The Once and Future King

"God made the angels to show Him splendor, … Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind." — Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." — Plato (427-347 B.C.)