AJEI Nov. conference registration now open / BASF View

“250 Years Later: The Courts Continue the Conversation; Commemorating America’s 250th Anniversary with the Nation’s Appellate Judiciary.” Registration is now open for the 2026 Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit, which is taking place in Philadelphia (November 12-15).

Also in November: Bar Association of San Francisco is holding its bi-annual View from the Appellate Bench on November 5, 2026: six hours of appellate law specialization MCLE credit (including one hour of ethics) featuring justices from the 1st DCA and California Supreme Court justice Marvin Jenkins. There’s also a wine and cheese reception.

CLA Appellate Summit May 14-15

 

Join us for the 10th Annual Litigation and Appellate Summit! The Summit features a variety of programs of interest to all trial and appellate practitioners, including two keynote speakers (State Senator Tom Umberg and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger); our updates panel covering important legislative and case law developments for litigators, appellate lawyers, and ADR practitioners; appellate specialization and other specialty MCLE credits; and much more.

JW Marriot San Francisco Union Square, 515 Mason St., San Francisco

Elbows in dissent

Law360 has The Sharpest Dissents From The Supreme Court Term

This term's sharpest dissents often looked beyond perceived flaws in majority reasoning to raise existential concerns about the role of the justices and lament the future of the U.S. Supreme Court and the nation.
The justices accused one another of rewarding lawlessness, harming faith in the judiciary and threatening the entire project of democracy.

And see Paul Watford's The Quiet Power of Dissent: Why Judicial Diversity and Appellate Voices Matter — The Appellate Project

Feel like an appellate trip to the Windy City?

A friendly reminder that registration is nearing capacity for the 2025 Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference, which will take place from August 17 to 19 at the Swissotel Chicago. This year's program features United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, former United States Solicitors General Paul Clement and Elizabeth Prelogar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King, New York Times Supreme Court correspondent Adam Liptak, legal writing expert Ross Guberman, and more. Plenary sessions will focus on AI, litigating originalism, a Supreme Court and Seventh Circuit legal review, and ethics. We expect approximately 8 hours of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin CLE credit to be available. You can register for the conference by clicking this link: https://registration.crowdcomms.com/benchbarconference25/register. Interest in the conference has exceeded our expectations, and we are nearing registration capacity.

And see Bedsworth: The Importance of Family Law | Law.com 

AJEI registration begins

Registration is now open for the 2025 Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit November 13 – 16, 2025 Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, The Depot Minneapolis, MN Register here Register now for the 2025 AJEI Summit, the nation’s premier appellate educational event. Typically attended by almost 400 appellate judges and practitioners, the Summit will feature 20+ panel discussions on emerging trends, challenges, and legal issues affecting appellate practitioners and the judiciary. Speakers Include: Former Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar Hon. Alan Page (Ret.), Minnesota Supreme Court Hon. David R. Stras, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, U.C. Berkeley Law Dr. Karen Korematsu, Founder and President, Fred T. Korematsu Institute Prof. Stephen I. Vladeck, Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Federal Courts, Georgetown Law Summit Topics Include: The Death of the Chevron Doctrine: The Future of Regulatory Power and Litigation Life of an Appeal in the Age of AI: From Trial Court to Appellate Decision Returning to the Rule of Law in a Politicized Environment Writing Like the Greats: A Hands-On Appellate Writing Workshop Concur and Dissent: When Great Minds Don't Think Alike Do Something! Ethical Responses to Judicial and Lawyer Misconduct Military Criminal Justice: What You Should Know To Defer or Not to Defer: Evolving Standards of Review in a Digital Age The Ethical and Practical Challenges of Amicus Participation What about US? The Role of State Constitutional Rights Following Recent US Supreme Court Decisions Summit Webpage Please visit the AJEI 2025 Summit webpage for more information, including hotel accommodations and how to become a Summit sponsor. There are discounts for early bird registration and ABA Members (automatically applied during registration). The Judicial Division of the ABA will be sending its members an additional promo code. Register early to take advantage of early bird pricing - save $100. Additional discount for ABA Members (please have your bar number ready during registration). The $100 early bird discount will be applied automatically until Oct 1, 2025.)

9th Cir. conference recap

Did you miss the 2024 9th Circuit Judicial Conference in Sacramento last summer? The court has now posted a recap here: Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference Brings Legal Luminaries and Topical, Robust Discussions to Sacramento

AAAL Fall 2024 meeting

The Fall Meeting of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers was in Boston last month (Oct. 24-26).

Retired SCOTUS Justice Breyer was presented with the Kathleen McCree Lewis Award for his contributions to and impact on the delivery of appellate justice.

Programming included many panel discussions featuring appellate judges from around the country.

First Circuit Judge William Kayatta discussed his approach to working on appeals, which mirrors the process of many appellate judges countrywide: First, he reads the judgment/order being appealed; second, he reads the table of contents for the opening brief--less than half of which are any good or useful; next, he reads the summary of argument/intro; only after that will he dig in to the briefs and record. So the take-away tip (which is well known to most) is that the table of contents really matters and needs to be used well as an advocacy tool. 

Expand Your Appellate Practice webinar

Expand Your Practice to Include Paid Appointed Appeals!

On November 13 at noon, 2d District APJ Lui and 3d District Justice Mesiwala and experienced appellate practitioners will present a Zoom webinar (sponsored by CAP-LA and CCAP) discussing the need for paid appointed counsel. Register here.

Recent DJ articles on this topic are here:

• Appointed-counsel are critical to access justice in the Courts of Appeal
• https://www.dailyjournal.com/articles/379007-crisis-looms-as-california-appellate-defense-counsel-faces-shortage-of-attorneys

1st Dist. Conference

The Appellate Section of The Bar Association of San Francisco presents Bi-Annual View from the Appellate Bench - 2024, Friday November 1, 2024, 9 a.m. to 4:30 (reception to follow) at the Milton Marks Auditorium (455 Golden Gate Ave, SF) -- 6 Hours of Appellate Specialization.

Every two years BASF has been honored to host a full day View from the Appellate Bench CLE program. Our 2024 conference will feature 12 esteemed Justices from the First District Appellate Court (Justices Banke, Wilson, Goldman, Petrou, Brown, Streeter, Chou, Humes, Stewart, Rodriguez, Jackson) as well as Justice Kelli Evans from the California Supreme Court, and a host of other appellate law experts.

9th Cir. Conference news

The DJ reports Retired Justice Kennedy urges civility at 9th Circuit conference -- Senior 9th U.S. Circuit Judge Mary M. Schroeder also paid tribute to the late Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

On an evening that featured a heartfelt tribute to former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who died last December, former Justice Anthony M. Kennedy told judges, attorneys and academics at the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference Monday that they "have the duty to advance the cause of civility."

Kennedy, a Sacramento native who turned 88 on Tuesday and served on the Supreme Court for more than three decades until his retirement in 2018, spoke during the conference's opening program to an audience that included his former colleague, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, and praised U.S. law schools as "the greatest educational establishments in the world."

And the DJ has 9th Circuit conference opens with a review of Supreme Court's term -- "This was a John Roberts term," Stanford Law School professor Jeffrey L. Fisher told attorneys and judges at the conference in Sacramento.

An afternoon session on generative artificial intelligence featured an eye-catching opening by Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP partner Miriam Kim, who played a video introducing the panel and the topic. She then asked the audience in a Sacramento ballroom if they realized the person in the video was not her, but her avatar. Many people raised their hands, indicating they had been fooled.

'Is This in Fact Real or Not?' 9th Circuit Conference Delves Into AI Issues in Federal Courts -- Even as generative artificial intelligence horror stories abound in the legal world, experts urged judges not to entirely discount its potential benefits.

SCOTUS news / SCOCA conference

Law360 has Blistering Dissents Belie Justices' Penchant For Consensus here:

Thirteen days into June, the U.S. Supreme Court had recorded one of the highest rates of unanimous decisions in the past four decades. But the era of historic consensus was tarnished a bit Friday when the court issued three split decisions and two scathing dissents highlighting how much the nine justices differ.

Closer to home:

The conference on the California Supreme Court, presented by Berkeley Law’s California Constitution Center and its partners, will be held on Friday, November 8, 2024. This all-day event will feature conversations with current and former justices of the California Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, and scholars of state courts and constitutions. MCLE credit approval will be requested. Ticketing and other details will be released soon.

AJEI Nov. 14-17 in Boston

Registration now open for the
2024 Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit November 14 – 17, 2024
The Westin Boston Seaport, Boston, MA

Register now for the 2024 AJEI Summit, the nation’s premier appellate educational event. Typically attended by almost 400 appellate judges and practitioners, the Summit will feature 20+ panel discussions on emerging trends, challenges, and legal issues affecting appellate practitioners and the judiciary.
Please visit the AJEI 2024 Summit webpage for more information, including hotel accommodations and how to become a Summit sponsor. Discounts for early bird registration and ABA Members. The Judicial Division of the ABA will be sending its members an additional promo code.

 

CLA Appellate Summit only a few weeks away!

The 2024 Litigation and Appellate Summit is just around the corner!

APRIL 25-26, 2024 | LONG BEACH, CA | FULL DETAILS | REGISTER HERE

Don’t delay!  The Litigation Section's Eighth Annual Litigation and Appellate Summit is in less than two weeks!  Come hear from our keynote speaker, Martin Estrada, the United States Attorney for the Central District of California. The program will also include Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero as a featured speaker.

The Summit will have programs on effective and ethical use of artificial intelligence in litigation, legal developments in 2024, a #MeToo litigation lookback, a live broadcast of the Portia Project podcast and much more!

There will also be a networking reception with hosted drinks and hors d’oeuvres immediately following the last program on Thursday.  As part of this reception, the Committee on Appellate Courts will present its 2024 Appellate Lawyer Hall of Fame award to Margaret Grignon in a ceremony beginning at 5:30 p.m. 

Earn up to 13 hours of MCLE credit, including credits for elimination of bias, legal ethics, and the new technology in the practice of law requirement, 8 hours of which qualify for legal specialization in Appellate Law.

CLA Appellate Summit

Register for 2024 Litigation and Appellate Summit

April 25-26, 2024

Long Beach Marriott

The 2024 Litigation and Appellate Summit is coming to Long Beach!  The Summit will feature an interview of CHIEF JUSTICE PATRICIA GUERRERO and will have a variety of programs of interest to all trial and appellate lawyers, including our annual “Updates” panel of important rule, legislative, and case law changes, a presentation on effective and ethical use of artificial intelligence in litigation, a #MeToo litigation lookback, a live broadcast of The Portia Project podcast, and much more! Earn up to 13 hours of MCLE credit, including elimination of bias, legal ethics, and 8 hours of legal specialization in Appellate Law. For full program details and to register, please click here.

9th Cir. Conference

The Ninth Circuit Conference is taking place this week in Portland. The DJ has Buckle up for bumpy ride, 9th Circuit meeting is told -- Lisa S. Blatt, chair of Williams & Connolly LLP’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, told the annual meeting of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that recent Supreme Court decisions left many unanswered questions.

9th Circuit Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia, an appointee of President Barack Obama, welcomed judges to the four-day conference, which is the second one held since the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020 and 2021. Turnout appeared larger than last year’s conference in Big Sky, Montana. “It really feels like we’re back this year,” Murguia said in her opening remarks.

Monday’s session included a debate on originalism, the increasingly popular legal theory to interpret the nation’s founding documents as they believe it was intended to be understood at the time.

NJC appellate programs

 

The National Judicial College has two upcoming appellate programs:

Advanced Skills for Appellate Judges, Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2023, in Washington D.C.

And if you're there, why not just in D.C. for the

Appellate Judges Education Institute, Nov. 2-5.

Law360 has former NY Appellate Division Associate Justice Rosalyn Richter's Legal Profession Must Do More For Lawyers With Disabilities:

When I was a law student more than 40 years ago, a professor shockingly told me that I should not be a trial lawyer because clients and juries might not react well to my visible disability. I ultimately found others who supported and encouraged me, and I went on to have a successful tenure as a trial and appellate judge. But in many years on the bench, I saw very few lawyers with visible disabilities.

(Richter also was the first openly LGBTQ judge appointed to NYAD.) 

AJEI in DC

The 2023 Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit will be in Washington, DC November 2–5, 2023. Details and a link to register can be accessed here.

Confirmed panelists include: Hon. Elizabeth Prelogar, Solicitor General of the United States Hon. J. Michelle Childs, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Hon. James Ho, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Hon. M. Margaret McKeown, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Hon. John B. Owens, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Jesse. H Choper Distinguished Law Professor, U.C Berkeley School of Law Hon. Eric J. Magnuson (Ret.), Former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court Hon. Laurie McKinnon, Associate Justice of the Montana Supreme Court Hon. Jennifer Choe-Groves, U.S Court of International Trade Hon. Samuel Thumma, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One Dean Emeritus James Alfini, Professor of Law, South Texas School of Law Houston Prof. Steven Vladeck, Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts University of Texas, School of Law Prof. Eric J. Segall, Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law Prof. Stephanie Barclay, Associate Professor of Law, Director of the Religious Liberty Initiative, Notre Dame Law School Prof. John Morlay, Professor of Law, Yale Law School Prof. James Brudney, Joseph Crowley Chair in Labor and Employment Law, Fordham School of Law Prof. Neil S. Siegel, Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean for Intellectual Life, Duke Law School Dalia Lithwick, Senior Editor, Slate Session topics include: The Supreme Court and the American Constitutional System A Fireside Chat with the U.S. Solicitor General “BOTs” and Writing Law, Justice, and the Holocaust (with an optional additional tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum) The Importance and Impact of U.S. Appellate Courts of Special Jurisdiction Disqualification of Judges: Judicial Ethics & Legal Ethics perspectives DEI: Bench and Bar Pipeline Historical Facts: Past, Present, and Future Update on Key Decisions of October 2022 SCOTUS Term Preview of October 2023 SCOTUS Term The Lexicon is Not a Fortress: Law and Linguistics Making Non-Argument Sections of a Brief Persuasive Building and Maintaining an Appellate Practice McCulloch v. Maryland: One-Stop Shopping for Textual Interpretive Methods

CLA Appellate news

CLA Appellate Summit
Since its inception in 2017, the Litigation Section and the Committee on Appellate Courts’ annual Litigation and Appellate Summit has been a marquee event. The two-day event offers programs of interest to all California trial and appellate practitioners. Notable past speakers and presenters have included former Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, and the Chief Judges of all four of the United States District Courts in California, among others. This year, the summit will return as an in-person program in San Francisco, from May 4 – 5, 2023, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco on the Embarcadero. Save the date and stay tuned for registration information. If you are interested in sponsoring the summit or have any questions please contact litigation@calawyers.org.

Seeking Nominations for 2023 Trial Lawyer and Appellate Lawyer Halls of Fame
Do you know a trial or appellate superstar? The Litigation Section seeks nominations for the Appellate Lawyer Hall of Fame. This awards is bestowed on attorneys who have excelled as appellate lawyers and whose careers exemplify the highest values and professional attainment. The nomination deadline is April 16, 2023. For more information and nomination forms, visit https://calawyers.org/section/litigation/appellate-lawyer-hall-of-fame/

Webinar: Meet New Justices on the Court of Appeal
March 23, 2023 @ 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm (via Zoom)
Please join us for the First Annual CLA Committee on Appellate Courts “Meet New Justices” Program. This program will be introductions to some of the newest justices on the Court of Appeal from across California: Justice Stacy Boulware Eurie, Third Dist., Justice Martin Buchanan, Fourth Dist. Div. 1, Justice Jeremy Goldman, First Dist., Div. 4, Justice Victor Viramontes, Second Dist., Div. 8.

AND the February 2023 issue of Litigation Update is now online, keeping you up to date on current case law.

BASF Appellate Conference

Looking for appellate mcle with a dozen First District Justices (plus Justice Corrigan) teaching? Look no further!

The Appellate Section of The Bar Association of San Francisco presents
Bi-Annual View From the Bench - 2022

Date Friday, November 4, 2022
Location Milton Marks Auditorium, 455 Golden Gate Ave
MCLE 6 hours of which 1 Hour is in Legal Ethics

AJEI set for Nov. 10-13

2022 Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit
November 10 – 13, 2022
DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Paradise Valley
Scottsdale, Arizona
Register here


Register now for the 2022 AJEI Summit, the nation’s premier appellate educational event, to be held this year in Scottsdale, AZ. Typically attended by almost 400 appellate judges and practitioners, the Summit will feature 20+ panel discussions on emerging trends, challenges, and legal issues affecting appellate practitioners and the judiciary. See below for a partial list of panelists and session topics, or visit our website for a complete list.

Please visit the AJEI 2022 Summit webpage for information about hotel accommodations, CLE/CJE credit hours, tours, and how to become a summit sponsor. Discounts for ABA Members. The Judicial Division of the ABA will be sending its members an additional promo code.
Summit Webpage
Confirmed panelists to date include:
Keynote Address by Hon. J. Michelle Childs (D.C. Cir.)
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, U.C. Berkeley
Hon. Esther Salas (D.N.J.)
Hon. Robert Bachrach (10th Cir.)
Ret. Four Star Admiral Harry Harris (former US Ambassador to South Korea)
Deepak Gupta, Esq., Gupta Wessler
Prof. Stephen Vladeck, Charles Alan Wright Professor, U. Texas Law School
Prof. Robert Miller, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Former Arizona Chief Justice Scott Bales
Hon. James Wynn (4th Cir.)
Prof. Nathaniel Persily, Stanford Law School
Ret. General John S. Cooke, Director, Federal Judicial Center
Hon. George C. (“Buck”) James, Supreme Court of South Carolina
Hon. Thomas R. Lee (Ret.), Assoc. Chief Justice, Utah Supreme Court
Hon. Mary Murguia (Chief Judge, 9th Cir.)
Former Arizona Chief Justice Ruth Magregor
Former Ambassador and U.S. Air Force Secretary Barbara McConnell Barrett
Hon. David Thomson, New Mexico Supreme Court
Allyson Ho, Esq., Gibson, Dunn
Michael Scodro, Esq. Mayer, Brown
Hon. Jacqueline Nguyen (9th Cir.)
Former ABA President Patricia Refo
Mark Lanterman, Computer Forensic Services (formerly with U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force)

 
Session topics include:
Supreme Court Preview – October 2022 Term
Qualified Immunity
Legislative Redistricting After Rucho v. Common Cause
Law and Linguistics
The Legacy of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
A Comparison of Military & Civilian Justice Procedures
Perspectives on Stare Decisis
Threats to Judicial Security and the Dark Web
Legal Writing: Striving for Clarity
Public Confidence and the Courts
1984, Big Brother, & Facial Recognition
The Reign of Three Sovereigns: Jurisdictional Puzzles in Indian Country
Key U.S. Supreme Court Decisions of the October 2021 Term
Appellate Court Pro Bono Program
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Dissent & Concurrence
Em😊jis and the Law: The New Digital Language In a Courtroom Near You
Insights on Amicus Brief Writing
Bias, Discrimination, and Harassment: The Ethics Rules for Lawyers and Judges

Visit the 2022 AJEI Summit page for the latest information. We look forward to seeing you in the fall!

I'll drink to that!

Ready to travel again, and looking for an appellatey trip? The Sixth Circuit has opened registration for its 76th Judicial Conference to be held in Louisville, Kentucky, August 31-September 2, 2022. The agenda shows that one program on tap is The History and Law of Bourbon--of course!