Start with a compelling hook

Here's an unpub'd decision from the 3d DCA that starts off like a movie pitch:

The distant origin of this bizarre case lies in the efforts of Richard Powers to escape prosecution by the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office for four counts of felony drunk driving. Fearing convictions would ruin him professionally, Powers sought to make a deal with the district attorney by which he would escape prosecution in exchange for acting as a confidential informant about another, bigger crime. Powers’s problem? He did not have a bigger crime to report. Undeterred, Powers made up a story that his friend, Marco Ambroselli, was illegally selling performance-enhancing drugs.


Or how about this start here from 4/1 in a pub'd decision:

The issue whether a criminal defendant has a constitutional right to obtain social media records from an electronic communication or remote computing service is currently under review by the California Supreme Court in Facebook, Inc. v. Superior Court (2015) 240 Cal.App.4th 203, review granted December 16, 2015, S230051 (Facebook I). In this case, we address the same issue knowing that our high court will likely grant review and hold this matter pending a decision in Facebook I. Nonetheless, we publish our thoughts agreeing with the conclusion in Facebook I for their potential persuasive value. (Cal. Rules of Court, rules 8.1105(e), 8.1115(e)(1) [published opinions for which the Supreme Court has granted review have no binding or precedential value but may be cited for potential persuasive value only].) Accordingly, the petition for writ of mandate is granted.

Also of note today, in the DJ, MTO lawyer Kenneth Trujillo-Jamison pens Filing deadlines and jurisdictional consequences about the pending SCOTUS case Hamer v. Neighborhood Housing Services. The issue is: If a party files a notice of appeal within an extended timer period set forth in a district court order, does the court of appeals have jurisdiction if the length of the extension is actually in excess of the 30-days permitted under FRAP?