The California Appellate Law Podcast
Episodes
226 episodes
“They Don’t Laugh at My Jokes Anymore.” Justice Lambden’s Lessons from the Trenches to the Benches and Back
As a consensus-maker, Justice James Lambden never published a dissent in his 17 years on the Court of Appeal for the First District, despite sitting between two indomitable personalities in Justice J. Anthony Kline (Gov. Jerry Brown’s legal aff...
Why Are Courts Sour on CEQA? Peter Prows Explains
“Something is very wrong with this picture.” This is how the Court of Appeal recently concluded a CEQA case—with finger pointed in CEQA’s direction. Peter Prows, an environmental attorney who handles a lot of CEQA cases, runs down the good, the...
PAGA Claims After Viking River Cruises, with Eric Kingsley
What does the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana mean for PAGA cl...
“Justice Belongs to the Community”: A Discussion with Justice Laurie Zelon
Justice Laurie Zelon spent 19 years on the Court of Appeal for the Second District before retiring in 2020 to work on cases as a mediator, arbitrator, and private judge. Justice Zelon talks with Tim Kowal and Jeff Lewis about:her co...
Striking Back Against Anti-SLAPPs: Three Tips for Opposing Anti-SLAPPs
Three recent cases remind litigants of some important tips when opposing anti-SLAPP motions:Spending money on litigation is not protected activity if the case is really about the misappropriation of the money. That’s Manlin v. M...
Time to Collect: Joseph Chora on the Most Important but Least Understood Area of Law
So you won a huge court case? Big deal — can you collect? Judgment enforcement, and defense against judgment enforcement, are critically important to litigants. But enforcement sits in that twilight region in between the trial and the appeal, s...
Carrot & Stick: Treble Damages in Business Tort Cases, and Appellate Sanctions
Business litigators need to know about the civil-theft remedies under Penal Code section 496. In your next fraud, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, or even breach of contract case, consider whether your facts fit
The Eviction Problem, with Tenant’s Rights Attorney Eric Post
“The incentives are out of whack,” says Eric Post, a tenant’s rights attorney with BASTA, Inc. The past two years have seen a dramatic increase in evictions, he says. Why? Because that is the simplest way to raise the rent.Eric talks wit...
Lessons on Persuasion, From Science & Beyond, with Stefan Love
Reviewing a recent book on persuasion trial trips based in science, Stefan Love’s conclusion is that the tips are in greater abundance than the science. True, there is much interesting science on the limits of human attention: for example, you ...
Can I Appeal This? Three Cases with Surprising Answers
When you look up an answer whether an order is appealable, the cases are supposed to give you straight answers. But here are three cases that give surprising answers. (Ok, really just two — if you are surprised by the second one, you were mista...
Litigating the “Fun Cases”: Civil Rights Appeals with Matthew Strugar
Matthew Strugar knows something about defending protesters threatened with legal action, even jail — because he used to be one of them. Drawing from his activist background, including defending animal rights, Matt talks about how civil-harassme...
An Advanced Class in Making the Record, with Jimmy Azadian
Merely hiring a court reporter is not enough. Jimmy Azadian explains how sidebars, missed objections, proffers, and hostile judges can all present obstacles to making your trial record. Jimmy shares with co-hosts Jeff Lewis and Tim Kowal about ...
Harassment in the Judicial Workplace: Aliza Shatzman’s Discusses the Legal Accountability Project
Being a victim of discrimination and harassment at the hands of an employer is hard enough, but what happens when your employer is a judge? On episode 39 of the California Appellate Law Podcast, Aliza Shatzman discusses her personal experience ...
Getting It Good and Hard: Courts Enforce 3 Strikes & Prop 57
H.L. Mencken had it that “democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”In two recent opinions, California courts gave the people what they voted for by enforcing two California ...
How Legal Tech is Leveling the Legal Playing Field, with Casetext Co-Founder Pablo Arredondo
The Co-Founder of Casetext, Pablo Arredondo, explains how legal technology that is available today will allow solos and small firms to compete against Big Law. Tim and Jeff talk with Pablo about:Why Artificial Intelligence—which did...
Ben Shatz on the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers 50 Years On
When a cadre of appellate nerds began the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers (and Eating and Drinking Association) 50 years ago, the state appellate system was not functioning well.Ben Shatz joins Jeff Lewis and Tim Kowal to talk ab...
Strange Appellate Things: Untimely Appeals OK’d, No Right to Settled Statement, and… “SMACC” Suits?
Jeff and Tim discuss some surprising recent cases, including two cases where the courts allowed untimely appeals, and a case where the right to an appellate record via a settled statement — although guaranteed in the Rules of Court and duly req...
Celebrity Attorney Christopher Melcher on What Gets the Courts’ Attention
High-profile and celebrity family law attorney Chris Melcher has represented some of the largest divorce cases in California, including multiple cases ending in published appellate decisions. Chris talks with Jeff and Tim about how celebrity-dr...
Ross Guberman on Conversational—Rather Than Tweet-Worthy—Legal Writing
Drawing from his experience training federal judges and top law lawyers how to write more effectively, Ross Guberman shares some of his best writing tips with Jeff and Tim on episode 33 of the California Appellate Law Podcast at
How to Mediate and Settle Your Appeal, with John Derrick
Certified appellate specialist and mediator John Derrick talks to Jeff and Tim about mediating cases on appeal. John explains that some appellate courts have mediation programs because of a mission to promote settlement. But the courts’ job is ...
“Stump Tim,” Do Sympathetic Parties Get Better Results? And Other Recent Cases
After Jeff quizzes Tim on a bit of appellate esoterica about the automatic 15-day default extension for appellate briefs, the co-hosts discuss whether appellate justices modulate their approaches to sympathetic cases. The conversation also cove...
Jeff Lewis Interviews Tim Kowal
In this special episode, Jeff interviews Tim about the best and worst things about appellate law. Tim shares his favorite war stories, shares his approach to legal writing, and talks about his favorite comedian.Then to business, Jeff and...
David Greco on the Unique Challenges in Probate Appeals
David Greco heads up the appellate practice at the probate litigation firm RMO, LLP. David shares with co-hosts Jeff Lewis and Tim Kowal some of the unique features and challenges in probate appeals:👉 Fact challenges in probate appeals a...
Creators of the CalAttorneysFees.com Blog, Michael Hensley and Marc Alexander, Discuss Tips for Requesting and Opposing Attorney Fees
The authors of the famous CalAttorneysFees.com blog, Marc Alexander and Michael Hensley, join us to discuss tips, traps, and best practices on attorney fee motions. Some key takeaways:💡 Give the ...