The California Appellate Law Podcast
Episodes
226 episodes
Judges Use Clearbrief & So Should You, with Jackie Schafer
Among the hundreds of great new legal tech available in recent years, Clearbrief stands near the top. Jackie Schafer, a former big-law and state attorney general who had a vision of attorneys and their staff working more effectively and efficie...
Appeal Your Arbitrator?
We discuss some interesting recent cases out of the California Court of Appeal:Arbitration clauses may include an agreement to make the award reviewable on appeal. We discuss a recent case that shows how.Can a judge just st...
Best Practices for Expert Testimony
Your next trial could succeed or fail based on whether the expert’s opinion gets admitted or excluded. Based on their recent presentation to financial experts, we cover three key cases—Kelly, Sargon, and Sanchez—that govern expert opinions. We ...
Investigating Judge Newman, with Aliza Shatzman
The Judge Pauline Newman saga reached a tentative end—or a respite—when the Federal Circuit imposed a year-long probation on the 96-year-old federal appellate judge. Aliza Shatzman of the Legal Accountability Project discusses the allegations o...
Tim’s New Firm & Recent Cases
Tim announces his new firm, Kowal Law Group, APC, and discusses some legal tech with Jeff before moving on to recent cases, including:Collateral orders: Longobardo v. AVCO Corp. confirms that California’s collateral order doctrine i...
Two-Party Consent Privacy Laws Might Be Unconstitutional, and Other Recent Cases
One of the most biggest recent case is the split decision out of the 9th Circuit holding that a prohibition on secretly recording communications between two people violates the First Amendment. Project Veritas v...
The Shadow Docket, with Stephen Vladeck
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 gr...
The Best Legal Movies Ranked, with Gary Wax
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 hi...
Cory Webster on 9th Cir updates
9th Circuit expert Cory Webster joins us to discuss several recent decisions out of the 9th Circuit. On this episode, we discuss:The Jack Daniels case: when binding precedent barred relief, Jack Daniels (and its savvy appellate team...
The “(cleaned up)” origin story, with Jack Metzler
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...
Jennifer Novak on Representing the Environment in Court
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 dis...
Got Bias? The New Bias Prevention Committee Wants Your Help, with Ben Shatz
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 tal...
Maxine Waters’ SLAPP, 5pm Filing Deadline, “Snitch Rule” & More Recent Legal News
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,...
Racking Up Appellate Argument Experience with Chris Schandevel
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 dif...
Thinking About Judicial Pay, with Troy Shelton
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 scrimpin...
From BigLaw to Solo: Carl Cecere on the freedom to take significant cases
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 int...
Judge Bress slags SLAPP appeals, and other recent cases
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 t...
Untimely & Defective Notices of Appeal: April 2023 Cases & Tidbits
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...
Should AI Replace Law Clerks? Yes, says Adam Unikowsky
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....
Use ChatGPT to prepare for oral argument, with Prof. Jayne Woods
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 d...
Unlocking Your Case Theme at Oral Argument: Jeff Markowitz with a Minnesota Perspective on Appeals
You have just about 15-30 seconds at oral argument before the panel is likely to interrupt you. How will you use that time? Minnesota appellate attorney Jeff Markowitz says you should be unlocking that key point that allows the rest of your cas...
When Texas & California Appellate Podcasts Meet
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 J...
Special Announcement About the Next Episode and Podcast Expansion!
To preview our special announcement to be discussed on the next episode, Tim is opening a satellite office in Texas—and the California Appellate Law Podcast will be expanding to Texas! Jeff Lewis will give me horseback riding lessons and remind...
Top Tips for Respondents on Appeal to Get Your Judgment Affirmed
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 ...
“You have permission to use the word ‘that’”: Lindsey Lawton on legal writing & Florida procedure comparisons
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 fr...
.jpg)