Traffic Appeals

Say you're an appellate specialist at a cocktail party, and someone starts asking you about appealing a traffic infraction... It's lame to say, "golly, I just don't know anything about that at all!" So to help with that situation Judge Gail Dekreon of the SFSC has provided in today's DJ Appeals In Traffic Infraction Cases. She starts out by directing us to Title 8, Division 2, about Superior Court Appellate Division appeals. A notice of appeal is due in 30 days after the judgment. The trial court has jurisdiction to stay the sentence pending appeal. Etc. etc.

Today's DJ also reports that Glenn Danas, "an appellate attorney known best for his high-profile victories on behalf of employees and consumers" has jointed Robins Kaplan's LA office to "bolster" the firm's "appellate arm, which is headed by former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson."

Congrats to Cynthia Tobisman!

Appellate attorney's novel 'Proof' wins 2018 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction

Cynthia E. Tobisman has won the 2018 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction for her second published novel, Proof. “I am honored, humbled, and frankly, totally stunned,” Tobisman said in a press release. “The spirit of To Kill A Mockingbird is the spirit of one person’s ability to make the world a little more fair. That the selection committee saw that spirit in my book is something that I will treasure forever.” Tobisman is a partner with Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland in Los Angeles, where she practices appellate law. Under the name C. E. Tobisman, she has published two novels, Doubt and Proof, and a comic book series, Inside the Loop.

On the topic of fun writing, check out this opening line from 4/3 here:

Good fences make good neighbors. Good fences that encroach on easements, however, make litigious neighbors.

Confirmation hearings set for August 23

Commission on Judicial Appointments to Consider Six Appointments to Courts of Appeal

If confirmed, appointees would include the first Korean-American justice, and the first Muslim and South Asian-American justice in the history of the California Courts of Appeal.

Six public hearings have been scheduled by the Commission on Judicial Appointments for August 23, beginning at 9 a.m. in the Supreme Court Courtroom, 300 South Spring Street in Los Angeles, to consider the following appointments by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.:

9-9:30 a.m.: Justice Nora M. Manella, as Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Four (Los Angeles)
9:50-10:20 a.m.:   Judge Dorothy C. Kim, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Five (Los Angeles)
10:40-11:10 a.m.: Judge Halim Dhanidina, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Three (Los Angeles)
11:30 a.m. to noon: Judge Maria E. Stratton, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Eight (Los Angeles)
1:30-2 p.m. Judge Alison M. Tucher, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Four (San Francisco)
2:20-2:50 p.m. Judge Michael J. Raphael, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Two (Riverside)

The hearings will be webcast live here.

The state Constitution specifies that a gubernatorial nomination or appointment to the Supreme Court or a Court of Appeal is “effective when confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.”

The commission consists of the chief justice of California, the attorney general of California, and the presiding justice of the Court of Appeal of the affected district or, if there are two or more presiding justices, the one who has presided longest or, for a nomination or appointment to the Supreme Court, the presiding justice who has presided the longest on any Court of Appeal.

Justice Nora M. Manella would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Norman L. Epstein. Manella has served as an associate justice in Division Four of the Second District Court of Appeal since 2006. She was appointed by former President Bill Clinton to serve as a judge of the U.S. District Court, Central District of California (1998-2006), and prior to that, as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California (1994-1998). Manella served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 1992 to 1994 and of the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1990 to 1992. She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1982 to 1990. She was an associate at O’Melveny and Myers in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles from 1978 to 1982. Manella was counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution from 1976 to 1978. She served as a law clerk for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit from 1975 to 1976. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California School of Law, Order of the Coif and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College, Phi Beta Kappa.

Judge Dorothy C. Kim would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Sandy R. Kriegler. If confirmed, she would be the first Korean-American justice in the history of the California Courts of Appeal. Kim has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2014. She served in several positions in the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 2001 to 2014, including as deputy chief and Assistant U.S. Attorney. Kim was a litigation associate at Irell and Manella LLP from 2000 to 2001 and served as a law clerk for Judge Norman H. Stahl of the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit from 1998 to 1999. Kim earned a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. 

Judge Halim Dhanidina would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Richard D. Aldrich. If confirmed, he would be the first Muslim justice and the first South Asian-American justice in the history of the California Courts of Appeal. Dhanidina has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2012. He served as a deputy district attorney at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office from 1998 to 2012. Dhanidina earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pomona College.

Judge Maria E. Stratton would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Madeleine I. Flier. Stratton has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2006. She served as federal public defender for the Central District of California from 1993 to 2006 and held several positions at Talcott, Lightfoot, Vandevelde, Woehrle and Sadowsky from 1985 to 1993, including managing partner, partner, and associate. She was an associate at Overland, Berke, Wesley, Gits, Randolph and Levanas from 1984 to 1985. Stratton served as a deputy federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Central District of California from 1981 to 1984 and as a law clerk for Judge Harry Pregerson at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, and at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 1979 to 1981. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California.

Judge Alison M. Tucher would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Maria P. Rivera. Tucher has served as an Alameda County Superior Court judge since 2014. She was a partner at Morrison and Foerster from 2004 to 2014, where she was a litigator from 1998 to 2004. She served as a deputy district attorney at the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office from 1995 to 1998, and was assistant director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s White House Security Review Team from 1994 to 1995. Tucher served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter and Judge William A. Norris at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School, a Master of Arts degree from the University of Cambridge, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College. 

Judge Michael J. Raphael would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Thomas E. Hollenhorst. Raphael has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2012. He served as an assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1999 to 2012. Raphael served as investigative counsel in the Office of U.S. Representative Henry Waxman from 1997 to 1999 and was associate counsel at Sidley and Austin from 1994 to 1997. He served as a law clerk for Judge Nathaniel R. Jones at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit from 1993 to 1994. Raphael earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University. 

Testimony and Comment

Persons who wish to testify or comment on the appointments must submit their information for receipt by the commission no later than 5 p.m. on August 16.

Anyone wishing to testify before the commission must state that request in writing and include a summary of the facts on which any testimony or opinion will be based.

The commission’s address is:
Commission on Judicial Appointments
c/o Chief Justice of California
Supreme Court of California
350 McAllister Street
San Francisco, California 94102
Attention: Secretary to the Commission

The guidelines for the Commission on Judicial Appointments are published as an appendix to the California Rules of Court and are available on the California Courts website.

4 Justices Confirmed

The DJ reports Four justices confirmed to state appellate courts: The Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed four state court appellate justices, all of whom received warm praise from longtime colleagues Thursday.

Justice Siggins is now PJ of 1/3, Justice Allison Danner is now on the 6th DCA (she's quoted: "I love legal research, legal writing and legal reasoning."), and Justice Mark Snauffer is now on the 5th DCA.

The DJ also reports, In Senior Status, Kennedy will sit on U.S. Appellate Courts, i.e., be a part-time traveling federal appeals judge.

Showing appellants the door...

Today's installment of appellate suicide (aka the disentitlement doctrine) is here.

“The disentitlement doctrine has been applied to a wide range of cases, including cases in which an appellant is a judgment debtor who has frustrated or obstructed legitimate efforts to enforce a judgment.” (Gwartz, supra, 231 Cal.App.4th at p. 758 [appeal dismissed where debtor made 47 transfers from his bank account to related entities and to pay expenses in violation of trial court’s order]; see, e.g., Ironridge, supra, 238 Cal.App.4th at pp. 264, 266-267 [appeal dismissed where debtor transferred stock to third parties in violation of trial court’s order]; Stoltenberg, supra, 215 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1228, 1234 [appeal dismissed where debtors were held in contempt for their violation of trial court’s order to comply with postjudgment subpoeana for financial information]; TMS, Inc. v. Aihara (1999) 71 Cal.App.4th 377, 380 [appeal dismissed where debtors willfully refused to comply with trial court’s order that they respond to postjudgment interrogatories]; Stone v. Bach (1978) 80 Cal.App.3d 442, 443-444, 448 [appeal dismissed after debtor held in contempt for his pretrial failure to deposit partnership receipts into a separate account and a second time for his postjudgment refusal to be sworn for a debtor examination]; Tobin v. Casaus (1954) 128 Cal.App.2d 588, 589, 592-593 (Tobin) [appeal would be dismissed within 30 days if debtor failed to appear in the trial court for his debtor examination after the trial court had issued a bench warrant for the debtor’s failure to appear at his examination]; cf. Polanski v. Superior Court (2009) 180 Cal.App.4th 507, 530, 538, 550 [declining to apply fugitive disentitlement doctrine to dismiss fugitive Roman Polanski’s petition for a writ of mandate where Polanski presented evidence of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct, but concluding the trial court did not abuse its discretion in applying the doctrine to deny Polanski’s motion to dismiss the criminal prosecution].)

Supreme Court vacancy stirs speculation

Today's DJ offers Brown’s long delay filling a state Supreme Court vacancy stirs speculation: Legal observers are wondering about the governor’s record-setting delay in nominating a seventh state Supreme Court justice, and if it signals a controversial choice.

Does Gov. Jerry Brown’s long delay in picking a new California Supreme Court justice mean he is leaning toward a controversial choice?

But the more significant milestone comes after the fall ballot is set in mid-August. A nominee confirmed prior to that date would need to face voters in November. A nominee confirmed afterward would not be on the ballot until 2022, the date of the next scheduled gubernatorial election.The scenario holds that delaying the election test by four years would give a controversial nominee a chance to establish a track record on the court and let voters’ memories of any disputations around the appointment fade. Some have even speculated off the record that he would wait until after the November election itself, in order to avoid the pick becoming a campaign issue.
...
Anne Gust Brown [a possible appointee?] is a former general counsel at Gap Inc. who, at 60, is 20 years younger than her husband. There has also been speculation that Brown would appoint himself or Josh Groban, his senior advisor on judicial appointments.

That’s a leading question among court watchers as a pair of milestones approach. On Aug. 31, it will be one year since Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar left the court, in a move she had announced nearly six months earlier.

Cal Supremes' 2019 Calendar is out now!

2019 Supreme Court Oral Argument Calendar
The Supreme Court of California has published its Oral Argument Calendar for next year. The calendar highlights the weeks when oral argument will be held in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Los Angeles. It also includes the dates for the court’s weekly conferences and court holidays for 2019.

Speaking of special days, today is the first day of the Summer 2018 bar exam.

Appellate articles of note

Today's DJ features Justice Moore's article No remedy for our veterans: Defense attorneys in California often are ignoring statutes enacted specifically to help our veterans transition back into productive civilian lives.

The DJ's Nick Sonnenburg is covering the 9th Circuit conference, and presents 9th Circuit Conference Discusses Litigious Field Around Student Athletes.

The WAPO has this article about Judge Kozinski, which mentions his recent radio interview and DJ article.

5th DCA pro tem update

Judge Wayne R. Ellison (Retired) of the Superior Court of Fresno County, having been assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution will be sitting pro tempore through August 31, 2018.

SLAPP stats & Writ advice

Today's DJ has appellate specialist Gary Watt dig into some SLAPP stats (with the help of summer associate Kristine Craig) in California Civil Litigators are SLAPP-Happy: A survey examining the May 2017 to July 2018 timeframe revealed 220 appellate opinions (published and unpublished), with 152 full affirmances and 38 full reversals. That's almost four SLAPP motion opinions per week statewide.

• Trial court rulings were upheld 69 percent of the time, while full reversals occurred at a rate of 17 percent. That's a full reversal every 11 or 12 days.
• Regarding published opinions, there were 31, with 17 full affirmances, seven full reversals, and seven other decisions featuring partial reversals. Thus, full reversals made up 22.5 percent of the published decisions -- and the rate of error doubles when partial reversals are considered.
• An examination of the seven published full reversals in the survey period reveals that five featured reversal of denied anti-SLAPP motions, while two featured reversal of granted motions. 
• As for the unpublished decisions, full reversals occurred 16 percent of the time.
• Even if partial reversals are ignored, the rate of full reversals demonstrates that anti-SLAPP motions are tough to resolve correctly and ripe with potential for reversal (and publication).

And Sharon Baumgold presents Avoid Common Mistakes to Give Your Writ Petition a Better Chance: e.g., meet your appellate writ deadline and properly prepare the record. 

Governor Brown Appoints 12 Superior Court Judges

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of 12 California superior court judges, some of particular appellate note:

• Miguel T. Espinoza, 39, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to a judgeship in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
• Alison M. Mackenzie, 42, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to a judgeship in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. 
• Sheila O. Recio, 46, of Long Beach, has been appointed to a judgeship in the Orange County Superior Court.
• Todd D. Irby, 60, of Rocklin, has been named to an interim appointment for a judgeship in the Placer County Superior Court.
• Jennifer R. Gerard, 42, of Yorba Linda, has been appointed to a judgeship in the Riverside County Superior Court.
• Timothy J. Hollenhorst, 41, of Riverside, has been named to an interim appointment for a judgeship in the Riverside County Superior Court.
• David E. Driscoll, 63, of Riverside, has been appointed to a judgeship in the San Bernardino County Superior Court.
• Loren G. Freestone, 47, of San Diego, has been appointed to a judgeship in the San Diego County Superior Court.
• Christine Van Aken, 44, of San Francisco, has been appointed to a judgeship in the San Francisco County Superior Court. Van Aken has been chief of appellate litigation at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office since 2012, where she has served as a deputy city attorney since 2006. She served as a law clerk for the Honorable David H. Souter at the U.S. Supreme Court from 2004 to 2005 and was an associate at Arnold and Porter LLP from 2003 to 2004. Van Aken served as a law clerk for the Honorable Pierre N. Leval at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit from 2002 to 2003.
• Susan M. Jakubowski, 50, of Santa Clara, has been appointed to a judgeship in the San Mateo County Superior Court.
• Carrie M. Stephens, 54, of Newman, has been named to an interim appointment for a judgeship in the Stanislaus County Superior Court. Stephens has served as a deputy county counsel at the Stanislaus County Counsel's Office since 1999. She has been a member of the U. S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps since 1991, serving as an appellate judge at the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals since 2017 and as a military trial judge at the Navy and Marine Corps Trial Judiciary from 2010 to 2015.
• Ronda J. McKaig, 45, of Santa Paula, has been appointed to a judgeship in the Ventura County Superior Court.

6 new Justices!!!!!

Governor Brown Appoints 6
 Court of Appeal Justices

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Judge Alison M. Tucher as associate justice, Division Four of the First District Court of Appeal; Judge Halim Dhanidina as associate justice, Division Three, Justice Nora M. Manella as presiding justice, Division Four, Judge Dorothy C. Kim as associate justice, Division Five and Judge Maria E. Stratton as associate justice, Division Eight of the Second District Court of Appeal; and the appointment of Judge Michael J. Raphael as associate justice, Division Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal.

First District Court of Appeal

Alison M. Tucher, 55, of Berkeley, has been appointed associate justice, Division Four of the First District Court of Appeal. Tucher has served as a judge at the Alameda County Superior Court since 2014. She was a partner at Morrison and Foerster from 2004 to 2014, where she was a litigator from 1998 to 2004. She served as a deputy district attorney at the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office from 1995 to 1998 and was assistant director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s White House Security Review Team from 1994 to 1995. Tucher served as a law clerk for the Honorable David H. Souter at the U.S. Supreme Court and for the Honorable William A. Norris at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School, a Master of Arts degree from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College. Tucher fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Maria P. Rivera. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline. Tucher is a Democrat.

Second District Court of Appeal

Halim Dhanidina, 45, of Irvine, has been appointed associate justice, Division Three of the Second District Court of Appeal. Dhanidina has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2012. He served as a deputy district attorney at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office from 1998 to 2012. Dhanidina earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pomona College. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Richard D. Aldrich. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. He will be the first American-Muslim justice and the first South Asian American justice in the history of the California Courts of Appeal, if confirmed. Dhanidina is a Democrat.

Nora M. Manella, 67, of Los Angeles, has been appointed presiding justice, Division Four of the Second District Court of Appeal. Manella has served as an associate justice in Division Four of the Second District Court of Appeal since 2006. She was appointed by President Clinton to serve as a judge of the U.S. District Court, Central District of California from 1998 to 2006 and appointed by President Clinton to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California from 1994 to 1998. Manella served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 1992 to 1994 and of the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1990 to 1992. She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1982 to 1990. She was an associate at O’Melveny and Myers in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles from 1978 to 1982. Manella was counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution from 1976 to 1978. She served as a law clerk for the Honorable John Minor Wisdom on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit from 1975 to 1976. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California School of Law, Order of the Coif and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College, Phi Beta Kappa. Effective August 22, 2018, she will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Norman L. Epstein. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. Manella is a Democrat.

Dorothy C. Kim, 45, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division Five of the Second District Court of Appeal. Kim has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2014. She served in several positions at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California Criminal Division from 2001 to 2014, including deputy chief and Assistant U.S. Attorney. Kim was a litigation associate at Irell and Manella LLP from 2000 to 2001 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Norman H. Stahl at the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit from 1998 to 1999. Kim earned a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Sandy R. Kriegler. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. She will be the first Korean American justice in the history of the California Courts of Appeal, if confirmed. Kim is a Democrat.

Maria E. Stratton, 65, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division Eight of the Second District Court of Appeal. Stratton has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2006. She served as Federal Public Defender for the Central District of California from 1993 to 2006 and held several positions at Talcott, Lightfoot, Vandevelde, Woehrle and Sadowsky from 1985 to 1993, including managing partner, partner and associate. She was an associate at Overland, Berke, Wesley, Gits, Randolph and Levanas from 1984 to 1985. Stratton served as a deputy federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Central District of California from 1981 to 1984 and as a law clerk for the Honorable Harry Pregerson at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California and at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 1979 to 1981. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Madeleine I. Flier. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. Stratton is a Democrat.

Fourth District Court of Appeal (Div. 2)

Michael J. Raphael, 50, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. Raphael has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2012. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1999 to 2012. Raphael served as investigative counsel in the Office of U.S. Representative Henry Waxman from 1997 to 1999 and was associate counsel at Sidley and Austin from 1994 to 1997. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit from 1993 to 1994. Raphael earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Thomas E. Hollenhorst. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez. Raphael is a Democrat.

The compensation for each of these positions is $228,918.

Stephen Liacouras Named Chief 9th Cir. Mediator

Stephen M. Liacouras has been chosen as the next chief circuit mediator of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The appointment, which is effective August 1, 2018, was announced today by Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas. Mr. Liacouras, who has worked as a circuit mediator since 2001, will succeed Claudia L. Bernard, who has served as chief circuit mediator since 2007. Ms. Bernard is retiring after 29 years as a circuit mediator.

As chief circuit mediator, Mr. Liacouras will oversee a staff of seven mediators and five support staff. Each year, the unit resolves about 1,200 cases which would have otherwise gone through the adjudicative process, thus reducing the workload burden on judges in the nation’s busiest appellate court. More details here.

DJ round-up

Of appellate note in today's DJ:

• Bounds Nomination to 9th Circuit Halted Moments before Senate Vote. [The Recorder has 3 Takeaways from Failed Ryan Bounds 9th Circuit Nomination, which notes "The Ninth Circuit currently has six vacancies and another set to open later this year when Idaho-based Judge N. Randy Smith plans to take senior status next month."]
• Longtime Central District Jurist to Take Senior Status, about how Judge Manny Real (age 94) will take senior status November 4. He's been a federal judge for 52 years and "is known for having his rulings frequently reversed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals." "'We've had a few problems with Manny on the Circuit,' the late 9th Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt said to laughter during a 2016 event honoring Real's five decades on the court." ("Real's departure will create the seventh judicial vacancy for the Central District.")
• Appellate specialist Jens Koepke writes about the recent Cal Supreme Court opinion in Jameson v. Desta in Mandatory Court Reporters for Indigent Litigants. "The court's policy-based decision was a sweeping paean to equal access to justice. But much remains to be seen."
• The DJ's special supplement on Top Labor & Employment Lawyers 2018 includes some appellate folks: Paul Cane, Mira Hashmall, Norm Pine, Michael Rubin, and Felix Shaif. Wave that appellate flag proudly!

2d DCA pro tem update

• Judge Brian S. Currey of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division One until September 30, 2018
• Judge Halim Dhanidina of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Three until September 30, 2018
• Judge Upinder S. Kalra of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Three until July 31, 2018
• Judge Gary I. Micon of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Four until September 30, 2018
• Judge Curtis A. Kin of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Five until July 31, 2018
• Judge Laura A. Seigle of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Five until September 30, 2018
• Judge Lisa R. Jaskol of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Five beginning August 1, 2018 until September 30, 2018
• Judge Gail Ruderman Feuer of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Seven until July 31, 2018
• Judge John Shepard Wiley, Jr. of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Seven until September 30, 2018
• Judge Allan Goodman (Retired) of the Los Angeles Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Eight until September 30, 2018
• Judge Kim Dunning of the Orange County Superior Court, will be sitting Pro-Tem in Division Eight until August 31, 2018