How has GMSR adapted to remote arguments? By creating state of the art studios! Check out "GMSR Studio" - Lights, Camera, Action
Friday, January 22, 2021
GMSR Studio!
Appellate reading
From How Appealing:
- Access online the Winter 2021 edition of Appellate Issues, a publication of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers: Via this link. Usually, this issue focuses on the previous November’s Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit, but this year out of necessity it mostly focuses on the new normal.
- Access online the new issue of The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process: You can access the table of contents via this link and you can download a PDF copy of the entire issue via this link.
Thursday, January 21, 2021
It's gotta be over $5K...
One vocal critic of this blog objects to the posting of legal-themed license plates as "silly." Well, SCAN posts what SCAN wants to post, silly or not, including this recent pic of a car parked near the beach in La Jolla.
And it's relevant, sort of, to this case here about appealing from sanctions orders. The set up reads like something from the appellate specialization exam. But specialists should have no trouble untangling the issues and solving the appealability puzzles presented.
Appellate seats & vacancies
The First District (20 seats) is showing vacancies in the PJ spots for Divisions 3 and 5.
The Second District (32 seats) is showing vacancies in Division 1 and 7.
The Third District (11 seats) has one vacancy.
The Fourth District (26 seats) has no vacancies (10 seats in 4/1; and 8 each in 4/2 & 4/3).
The Fifth District (10 seats) has no vacancies.
The Sixth District (7 seats) has two vacancies.
If you ever forget how the Court of Appeal is structured in terms of borders, divisions, seats, etc., turn to Govt. Code sections 9100-69107 (Gov. Code Title 8 (Organization & Government of the Courts), chapter 4 (The Courts of Appeal).)
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Top Lawyers of the Decade
- “There is some tradition with chief justices, dating back to prior chiefs and continuing with her, to take the tough ones and perhaps some of the controversial ones for herself,” Groban said. “Knowing her now as I’ve come to know her, it’s no surprise. She’s not afraid of making difficult decisions.”
- Many now remember her appointment as one of the defining acts of Schwarzenegger’s governorship, and one that changed the trajectory of California’s court system. Reached recently, Schwarzenegger said he hopes to see her on the U.S. Supreme Court someday. “I think she’s terrific,” Schwarzenegger said. “She’s known as someone who is in the center, someone who does not care about politics as much as serving the people. I’ve been proud of her,” he added.
- Cantil-Sakauye’s fierce independence was demonstrated early in the Trump administration when she quietly left the Republican party and registered as an independent, and then when she publicly spoke out against immigration enforcement officials’ practice of arresting undocumented immigrants in state courthouses.
Now what?
There has been much chatter about Justices Liu and Kruger being appointed to other positions. Today's DJ, for instance has 'Attorney General Goodwin Liu,' urging Gov. Newsom to make such an appointment. Similarly, there's been talk about appointments to the 9th Cir., SCOTUS, or the SG's office. The best place to follow this conversation is At The Lectern, which today reports that Justice Kruger reportedly has declined Solicitor General job twice.
Law360 has Trump's Imprint on the Judiciary in 6 Charts, which notes:
- With 234 judicial appointments during his four years in office, President Donald Trump enjoyed the most productive single term since the 1970s and named the same number of appellate jurists as President Barack Obama did in two terms.
- As Trump leaves office, his appointees account for more than a quarter of all active Article III judges. His imprint is even more significant on the appeals courts, where his 54 picks amount to just over a third of all active judges.
- Trump "flipped" the majority in three circuits — the Second, Third and Eleventh — but appointments by President-elect Joe Biden could easily undo the change.
- While Trump's picks were much less diverse than Obama's, Republicans highlighted trail-blazing appointments, including Ninth Circuit Judge Patrick J. Bumatay, the first Filipino-American federal judge and only the second openly LGBT appellate jurist; D.C. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, the first South Asian-American woman on a federal appeals court; and Judge Richard E. Myers II, the first Black judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
- Overall, however, Trump's selections made the judiciary less diverse in both gender and race.
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
"Specially appearing respondents"?
Assume a case is dismissed for plaintiff's failure to serve defendants and prosecute the case. Plaintiff then appeals the dismissal order. Can defendants who were never served filed a respondent's brief as "specially appearing respondents"? An argument for such standing is that respondents have a right to defend their interests on appeal because reversal would prejudice them. But the Court of Appeal here (in fn.1) says no dice:
A “respondent” is an adverse party (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.10(2); see also Code. Civ. Proc., § 902) and a “party” is a person appearing in an action (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1.6(15)). ... Because these defendants never appeared below, they are not “parties.” Accordingly, we will disregard defendants’ brief and oral arguments.
9th Cir. Order re HSDs
Following a security audit of CM/ECF by the Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of the Judicial Conference issued a policy directive that all federal courts start accepting highly sensitive documents (HSDs) for filing only in paper form or via a secure electronic device, and that courts store HSDs in a secure paper filing system or on a secure, standalone computer system not connected to any network. Implementation is left to each court. This administrative order establishes initial procedures to identify and ensure the security of HSDs. Modifications may be made by further administrative order or by adoption of General or Special Orders or rule changes.
- In this Circuit, HSDs are defined as: Unclassified sealed documents involving: foreign sovereign interests; criminal activity related to cybersecurity, intellectual property, or trade secrets; terrorism; investigation of public officials; potential negative impact on national security or foreign relations of the United States; and sensitive commercial information likely to be of interest to foreign powers.
- Any questions about how to proceed under this Administrative Order should be directed to the Clerk’s Office at HSD@ca9.uscourts.gov.
JNE Considering Feinberg for 3d DCA
The State Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation is evaluating Aimee Feinberg of the Cal. DOJ's SG's Office for a spot on the Third District Court of Appeal. She clerked for Justice Breyer (2004-2005) and before that D.C. Cir. Judge Tatel.
Beds on household repairs
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“if gerbils had bar mitzvahs …” |
Beds' latest hilarity is How Many Judges Does It Take to Change a Light Bulb? about how inept lawyers are at simple household repairs.
Judicial Appointments program
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Monday, January 18, 2021
Happy MLK Day!
Here are some materials to celebrate today's holiday:
In order
to look to the future, it is often necessary to get a clear picture of the
past. In order to know where we are going, it is often necessary to see from
whence we have come. |
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• Letter from a Birmingham City
Jail (1963) |
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• March on Washington “I Have a
Dream” (1963) |
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• Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Nobel
Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (1964) |
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• “The Struggle for Civil Rights in
Mississippi” Calvin Trillin’s encounter with Martin Luther
King, Jr. on a flight to Mississippi for The New Yorker (1964) |
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• Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press to discuss his historic
five-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama (1965) |
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• “Where Do We Go From Here?” delivered
at the 11th Annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta,
Georgia, discusses boycotts, power, and love (1967) |
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• Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Final
Speech “I Have Been to the |
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• Additional Context for Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s Final Speech “I’ve Been to the
Mountaintop” (1968) |
Friday, January 15, 2021
2d DCA meeting re retired annuitant
Transition of power program & Impeachment/25th Amendment program
Racial and Social Justice Task Force of LACBA will be presenting a free Zoom program on “The Intricacies of the Presidential Transition of Power” for Thursday, January 21, 2021, at 5:30 p.m., the day after the Inauguration, with Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the UC Berkeley School of Law and Justice Brian Hoffstadt of the Second District Court of Appeal, moderated by LASC Judge Serena Murillo. This will be a post-inaugural debrief of the political issues surrounding the 2020 presidential election, in which the panelists will bring to bear their considerable expertise in constitutional law, federal practice, civil rights, and appellate litigation.
Register at https://lacba.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TWgAufo4RaGg8QrR1ER81Q
Also: CLA is presenting a free program on Jan. 26:
Jan. 26, 2021 @ 5:00 PM – 6:00 PMIssues surrounding the impeachment and the 25th Amendment have dominated the headlines. Join us for an engaging discussion about how impeachment, the 14th and 25th amendments work from the perspiration two constitutional law professors. Speakers include: Loyola Law School Professors Laurie Levenson and Jessica Levinson. Moderated by Erik Silber
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Justice Premo retires
Justice Eugene Premo of the Sixth District Court of Appeal has announced that he is retiring effective January 15, 2021.
KCSC local rules
Kern County Superior Court has updated its local rules here. Of appellate note, Rule 1.10, covering electronic filing and service, includes subdivision (k)(14) (effective 1/1/21) noting that "Any appeal-related documents" are "not eligible for submission through electronic filing and must be filed through conventional methods."
File this under "yet another e-filing system that fails to account for appellate filings."
On other fronts, here's a nice turn of phrase (from this unpub): "The parties have engaged in protracted and torturous litigation, and the arbitrator in the second arbitration characterized it—in our view fittingly—as a “black hole of expense and rancor.”"
Justice Do sworn in to 4/1!
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Welcome! How do you Do? |
This morning at 10:31 a.m. the CJA unanimously confirmed the appointment of San Diego Superior Court Judge Truc T. Do (pronounced "truck doe") as a justice on 4/1!
She fills Gilbert Nares' seat. Born in 1972, her family immigrated from Vietnam (becoming a naturalized citizen at age 11). Her first job was having a paper route. She graduated from UCLA and Stanford Law School and worked at Shepperd Mullin, then as a DA in LA (including handling murder cases) for 10 years; then she was a partner at Munger; then moved to San Diego to work at Jones Day. She understands access to justice because she grew up having to share a bathroom with six siblings. She was praised as "one of the great legal minds" in San Diego and for lives the 3 F's: Food (she is a "foodie"), Family, and Fun. Attorneys appearing before her should "be prepared and know the facts and law, because she will." After taking her oath (between 10:33-34 a.m.), she thanked the governor and promised to work hard; she thanked Marty Jenkins, the JNE Commission, the CJA, and many others, including St. Marks Methodist Church (which sponsored her family 15 years ago when they were refugees in Camp Pendleton). She knew from 7th grade that she wanted to be a lawyer. Her father's work in helping to settle war refugees inspired her to devote herself to justice.
Dean Eastman "retires"
The Recorder reports: Law Prof Who Spoke at White House Rally Abruptly Retires Amid Calls for His Firing -- John Eastman reached an agreement to immediately retire from Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law.
See How Appealing for additional links.
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
LA Law Library Cram Day
Cram Day On Demand!
Earn All 6 Mandatory MCLE Credits Before the Deadline (February 1, 2021)
Elimination of Bias * Legal Ethics * Competence Issues
California attorneys whose last names begin with the letters H-M are required to report their MCLE credits to the State Bar by February 1, 2021. This year, watch current, original video presentations on your own time, covering the required credits for all three mandatory subject areas: Elimination of Bias, Legal Ethics and Competence Issues.
All classes certified for California participatory MCLE credit. After registration, you will be provided course materials, evaluation forms and your Certificate of Attendance via email. Watch each recording to the end and answer the questions provided in the popup to verify your attendance.
Registration fees: $75 for all six classes on-demand. Recordings to be available no later than January 1, 2021.