DJ article on 9th Circuit Commissioner Peter Shaw

Today's DJ has a cover story on Peter Shaw, a former appellate lawyer, who has served as the 9th Circuit's Commissioner since that post was created in 1994. For a recent article outlining his responsiblities (published by the San Diego FBA chapter) click here. In September 2010 the DJ ran a profile of Shaw, emphasizing his unique role in the federal court system: "I'm the first and only [federal appellate commissioner in the U.S.]," he said then, and that's probably still true today.

As reported by the DJ, these pics may provide insight into the Commissioner's latest assignment.

Intros that make you want to read more

Two great intros today. First, here's the entire introduction in a decision today that entices the reader to keep reading:

This case involves "‘a particularly unpardonable fault of the prosecutor-unpreparedness.’" (People v. Whitaker....)

Second, there's this start to this opinion that cries out for further reading:

An attorney's website advertised her success in two cases raising issues similar to those she was about to try here. The trial court admonished the jury not to "Google" the attorneys or to read any articles about the case or anyone involved in it. Concerned that a juror might ignore these admonitions, the court ordered the attorney to remove for duration of trial two pages from her website discussing the similar cases. We conclude this was an unlawful prior restraint on the attorney's free speech rights under the First Amendment.

 With such interesting cases popping out, how can anyone get any work done...
 



Here's another one:

[Plaintiff] filed a statement of contest seeking to prevent the Secretary of State from certifying the election results of the 2012 primary election, contending President Obama is not a natural born citizen, and thus is ineligible for the office of the President, and that California voter rolls are rife with fraud.

Televising of court of appeal proceedings starts this week...



...here, at the Royal Courts of Justice (the building that houses the Court of Appeal for England and Wales). "The video-journalist's editing trolley is fashioned from varnished oak, camouflaged to match courtroom furniture. Remote controlled cameras are concealed in bookcases between ancient legal volumes." (Read The Guardian article here -- hat tip, naturally, to John Derrick.) It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.

"All rise...."

Tactics of effective briefs

Today's DJ features an article titled Tactical Considerations: Effective Appellate Briefs, by three appellate lawyers, Jerry Clausen, Greg Ellis and George Schiavelli (Hon. ret.), discussing points to ponder about the standard of review, table of contents, and contents of the brief, i.e., the intro, facts, and argument.

"French mathematician Blaise Pascal once remarked, 'We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we discover ourselves than by those given to us by others.'"

And beware of the 'pet issue'...

California's new Solicitor General

Today's DJ, MetNews, and Recorder report that State AG Kamala Harris has named appellate attorney Edward DuMont, currently vice-chair of the appellate group at Wilmer Culter Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP in DC, to be the state's new Solicitor General. (Recorder article here.)

"I look forward to returning to California, joining a new team and working together to build an expanded Solicitor General's office."

4/1 Takes its Show on the Road

Court of Appeal Holds Special Session for Imperial County High School Students

Justice McConnell presents Civics Learning Award to Brawley Union High School in July 2013

SAN DIEGO—Administrative Presiding Justice Judith McConnell today announced that the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division One, will hold a special Oral Argument session at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, November 7, 2013, at the Brawley Union High School.

This outreach program is one of many in the Fourth Appellate District to expand students’ understanding of the appellate court process. The students will view experienced attorneys argue their cases and respond to inquiries before the court. After the session concludes, the justices and counsel will discuss the appellate process with students and will answer questions. The cases to be argued are:

• People v. White (D063369); and
• City of Calexico v. Calexico Personnel Commission (D063152).

The program is the result of a collaborative effort between the court and Brawley Union High School and is open to the public. The special session will be held in the auditorium of the high school located at 480 N. Imperial Ave., Brawley, CA 92227.

For more information, contact Mr. Kevin J. Lane, Clerk/Administrator of the Court of Appeal, at 619-744-0760.

Press Release here.

"In re COMPLETE CASES"

"In re COMPLETE CASES." Now that's an odd caption, right? So Justice Beds clears up the mystery in the decision's first line:

The unusual title of this case reflects the fact it arises out of the settlement of a class action suit brought against Advanced Medical Optics, now known as Abbott Medical Optics (AMO), for allegedly making misleading statements concerning the disinfecting capabilities of the company’s “COMPLETE MoisturePLUS” multipurpose contact lens solution (the “Complete Contact Lens Solution”) in the mid-2000’s.

The decision goes on to deny appellate sanctions with this great line:

“Sanctions are serious business. They deserve more thought than the choice of a salad dressing. ‘I’ll have the sanctions, please. No, on second thought, bring me the balsamic; I’m trying to lose a few pounds.’ . . .”

Where'd that zinger come from? Oh yeah, J. Bed's own now-classic opinion in Kim v. Westmoore Partners, Inc.

(2011) 201 Cal.App.4th 267, 293.

The Reversible Arbitration Award?

This month's issue of Advocate magazine (the organ of the Consumer Attorneys of LA) features another article by appellate specialist Herb Fox titled The Reversible Arbitration Award: A hybrid already here (The rules of judicial review have changed in California -- and not a moment too soon!), discussing Cable Connection Inc. v. DirectTV Inc., which allows parties to an arbitration agreement governed by the California Arbitration Act to stipulate to allow full judicial review. (At some point the article should become available: "CAALA attorney members and non-members can search for articles from past issues in the Advocate Journal Article Archive.")

The elusive Moncharsh butterfly...

...and the Cable Connection.

Oral tentatives? We Love It!



For about two years now, 2/8 has been using an oral tentative process. Details about this procedure were discussed at this month's October meeting of LACBA's Appellate Courts Section. In short, just before lawyers argue most appeals, the justices will read a short summary of the court's tentative decision. Oral tentatives will not be read in cases involving an pro per or when the justices have divergent views. The justices of Division 8 believe that this process helps the court ensure correct rulings and focuses oral argument. How do lawyers feel about it? Well, as our local poet laureate put it:

From the South Bay to the Valley
From the West Side to the East Side
Everybody's very happy

....

Century Boulevard (We love it!)
Victory Boulevard (We love it!)
Santa Monica Boulevard (We love it!)
300 South Spring Street (We love it!)

Oral Tentatives (We love it, we love it!)

And this update just in: Lawyer Larry Yang reports that at oral argument today in Div. 8, the court announced a new and improved tentative process! The clerk gives lawyers a written tentative when they check in (which may be read and then returned to the clerk). This is a gggggggrrrrrrrreat idea (and one floated at the LACBA ACS program), because it gives the lawyers a bit more time to prepare their remarks to respond to the tentative. Kudos, Division 8! What more can be said? We love it!

Litigator Rex on Oral Argument Misdemeanors & Much More

From the Jurassic past comes timeless wisdom:


Dig into Litigator Rex's Argument Misdemeanors for Five Ways to Ruin Your Oral Argument, sharing sage pointers on humor, timing, concessions, questions and remedies.

Also be sure to park yourself in front of GMSR's Alan Rotter's article in today's DJ, Appeals, Writs and Summary Judgment, about California appellate procedure regarding summary adjudication.

Over at The Recorder, Scott Graham has been doing some serious excavation into the backgrounds of 9th Circuit nominees: see Friedland, Owens Fill in the Plot on Ninth Circuit Nominations. And making it an appellate-twofer today, he has another article (here) about how Governor Brown "is vetting Therese Stewart, San Francisco's chief deputy city attorney and the point woman on its legal fight for same-sex marriage, for a vacancy on the First District Court of Appeal."

Contribute to the 20th Edition Bluebook!

Live and direct from the Volokh Conspiracy blog, an amazing opportunity to Geek Out!

The Bluebook editors are working on their 20th edition, and have put up a user survey to get input about what ought to be done. If you use the Bluebook and have thoughts about it, this is your chance to submit them.