Cal Supreme Court Law Clerks article

Mosk & Moskovitz Reminisce

Justice Tobriner (CSC 1962-1982)

Justice Peters (CSC 1959-1973)

Today's DJ has an interesting piece by Justice Mosk and Myron Moskovitz titled Law Clerks at the State High Court: Then and Now. Both of them served as Cal Supreme Court law clerks in 1964, Mosk for Tobriner and Moskovitz to Peters. They drafted conference memos on petitions for hearing (now petitions for review, and now handled by the court's central staff) and death penalty appeals, and they drafted calendar memos (prequels to full draft opinions). Back then, each justice had three law clerks (its five today), with the chief having a few more.

Serving as a law clerk was a great way to begin a legal career. It gave us a close-up look into the most important factor a litigator must know: how judges think. And it trained us to learn a new area of the law quickly and well enough to present a coherent memo on it. 

Another DJ article today (by Tim Reuben and Michael Hirota) is titled New State High Court Not Looking Good for Employers, asserts that "The newly constituted state Supreme Court has given an unmistakable signal that it has moved to the legal left and is a pro-employee court." The article discusses Williams v. Chino Valley Indep. Fire Dist. and concludes:

Perhaps most significantly, however, is the Supreme Court's willingness to distance itself from prior case law - even Supreme Court case law - and "interpret" legislative intent and language in a manner consistent with its vision of what the law should be. The Williams case signals that employee rights are a significant priority for this court.

Also, an interested unpub from 1/4 yesterday here about stays when money is being held by "the court."

Section 917.1 requires an undertaking be made by a losing party to stay enforcement of a money judgment or trial court order pending appeal unless “the money to be paid is in the actual or constructive custody of the court . . . .”

But what if the court holding the money is not the superior court where the case was litigated but is a different court in a different case? Not good enough, apparently.

The DJ's insert today, Top Women Lawyers, also lists some SoCal appellate gals: Laura Brill, Margaret Grignon, Lisa Perrochet, MC Sungaila, and Miriam Vogel.

Finally, the New York Times ran this yesterday: Lawyers With Lowest Pay Report More Happiness.


In The Recorder, Anna-Rose Mathieson presents Know the Ground Rules for Scoring an Interlocutory Appeal.