The California Appellate Law Podcast
Episodes
226 episodes
Reaction to Judge Jones and Prof. Vladeck's Exchange on Judge Shopping
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 tens...
Why the Lack of an Record Is a Constitutional Problem, with Erin Smith (Part 2)
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...
Why the Lack of an Record Is a Constitutional Problem, with Erin Smith (Part 1)
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 ...
A Glimpse into ClioCon
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...
The Write Stuff, with Michelle Strowhiro
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...
Supreme Court Reinstates $2.5M Discovery Sanction
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 t...
Electronic recordings? Not so fast.
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 w...
Adam Feldman on Empirical SCOTUS part 2
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, ...
Adam Feldman of Empirical SCOTUS, Part 1
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 ...
“Disgrantles,” peaceful carjackings, for-profit prisons: July 9th Cir. cases
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 migh...
E-filing outage cause a late filing? & other cases
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-SLA...
What next after Rahimi? with Criminal Defense Hero Don Hammond, part 2
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...
Justice Anita Earls Part 2: The investigation into her statements on diversity
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....
CCW Permits with Criminal Defense Hero Don Hammond, part 1
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...
Justice Anita Earls and the Court as an Institution: Part 1
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....
Abortion Pills and Vaccine Mandates
We have a few big cases to cover:The Supreme Court, 9-0, guaranteed continued access to abortion pills.A 9th Circuit split panel, meanwhile, allows a challenge to a Covid-19 vaccine mandate to proceed, challenging Buck ...
The appellate court that overruled a supreme court: Part 2 with John Sylvester
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 it...
The appellate court that overruled a supreme court: Part 1 with John Sylvester
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
Top 10 Tips to Avoid Fee Disputes, with Carl Mueller
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 includ...
How to Avoid Fee Disputes, with Carl Mueller
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:All the bi...
Top 10 Tips from Court of Appeal Research Attorneys
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 ...
Why One School District Spent $1 Million Fighting Special-Education Attorney Tim Adams’ Client (Part 2)
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
Why One School District Spent $1 Million Fighting Special-Education Attorney Tim Adams’ Client (Part 1)
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
What to know about “snap” and “super snap” removals
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 def...
Is the Racial Justice Act Unconstitutional?
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 ...
