SGs to headline Caruso SOL Dinner

Pepperdine University's Caruso School of Law Dinner (Sept. 27) will feature 47th SG Noel Francisco and 48th SG Elizabeth Prelogar. Register here.

At The Lectern has Legendary Selma Moidel Smith dies at 106; the DJ has Selma Moidel Smith, 1919-2025--Selma Moidel Smith was admitted to the California Bar in January 1943 at 23 and remained active in legal and scholarly circles for more than 82 years.

Selma Moidel Smith, a trailblazing California attorney, legal historian, and composer whose work uplifted generations of women in the law, died on Friday after a brief illness. She was 106.

Law360 has Fed. Circ. Panel Calls For Extending Newman's Suspension (The Fed. Cir. R&R is here)

And for those with an interest in how it's done elsewhere: Meet the Six Justices Designated by Hochul to Serve in Downstate New York Appellate Divisions

Under New York’s constitution, the governor designates justices of the Appellate Divisions. While the constitution allows for six associate justices in each division, that number has been expanded to include “additional” justices over the years to handle the increased workload.
Associate justices must be appointed and reappointed by the governor every five years. Under the constitution, an “additional justice” may be released from their role at the Appellate Division in the event they are no longer needed to manage the workload and they therefore have no term limit.

Reuters has Judiciary asks Trump to skip 10th Circuit nomination, allowing court to shrink

Should Supreme Court's Emergency Docket Orders Bind Lower Courts? | Law.com

And a couple of SCOTUS-writing law review articles from earlier in the year:

• Jensen, Erik M., A Comment on Justice Thomas's Commas (Jan. 1, 2025). Case Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2025-10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5266376 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5266376
• Christensen, Grant and Mullins, Anne, The Lone Dissent (Feb. 10, 2025). ___ Wash. & Lee L. Rev. ___ (2026), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5213323 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5213323

KBJ's writing style

ABA Journal has Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson draws attention with strong dissents and carefully chosen words

And the NYT has Opinion | Listen Up. Ketanji Brown Jackson Is Speaking to You. - The New York Times

And Law360 has 5 Things To Know As California Courts Decide On AI Rule - Law360

And see here for a pro per citing nonexistent cases to 4/3.

The Bluebook 22nd edition!

Major Changes in the 22nd Edition:

The 22nd edition of The Bluebook, released at the end of May, 2025, is the most substantial change to legal citation in at least a decade. While previous editions always attempted to keep up with practitioner and scholar practices of using online resources, the 22nd edition makes fundamental changes to citations in this area that better align with its underlying principle as stated in the introduction to "lead the reader directly to the specific items cited."

22nd Edition Information

• B5.3 now permits the use of the parenthetical “(citation modified)” to be used when a quotation has been stripped of internal quotation marks, brackets, ellipses, internal citations, and footnote reference numbers and capitalization has been modified without brackets.

Video is now posted of UC Irvine Law's 15th Annual Supreme Court Term in Review

AI oral arg / "fun" opinions

Law360 has:

Top Supreme Court Atty Touts AI Version Of Own Argument

You're not hallucinating — a tech-savvy U.S. Supreme Court advocate generated a near-facsimile of his voice, had an artificial intelligence chatbot use it to argue the same case he recently argued, and told Law360 on Tuesday that "many of its answers were as good or better than mine."

Approach The Bench: Judge Biery Has Fun Writing about W.D. Tex. Judge Fred Biery's "famous" "quirky written opinions":

The five-stanza poem about the disability insurance case was the first of many quirky opinions. Over decades, Judge Biery has leaned heavily on puns and has quoted songs and TV shows. He's used visual aids, including an illustration of the history of the earth to drive home the relative insignificance of litigation. His orders have again and again made headlines in the legal press.

And Adam Liptak has in the NYT: In Digital Era, Supreme Court Insists on Vast Piles of Paper -- The court’s rules require many litigants to submit 40 copies of their briefs, resulting in millions of pages printed each term. Critics call the process outdated and wasteful.

Citing Ending the Paper Chase at the U.S. Supreme Court

Purple (pleading) dragon? Uh, no.

 

Law360 has 'The Court Is Not A Cartoon': Judge Rips Dragon Watermark

A Michigan federal magistrate judge Monday ordered an East Lansing, Michigan, firm called Dragon Lawyers PC to stop plastering its pleadings with a large, suit-clad purple cartoon dragon watermark on each page, saying it's not only "distracting, it's juvenile and impertinent." "The court is not a cartoon," U.S. Magistrate Judge Ray Kent said in his order striking the firm's complaint.

Judge Biery's writing tips

W.D.Tex Judge Fred Biery (formerly on the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals) has a piece in today's Law360: A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing, about how to write decisions that aren't boring. He says to "tell a human story," "be original," and he points out that: 

In addition to traditional legalese, alliteration, double entendre, analogy, cadence, aphorism, malapropism, oxymoron, simile and euphemism can add spice to an otherwise bland bowl of legal porridge, whether in opinions or brief-writing.

Yellowbook/Bluebook program

 

On March 5 at noon, ARC and the Pasadena Bar Association present a webinar on legal citation:  John Derrick: "Id., Ibid. and All that Stuff" What You Always Wanted to Know About Citation, But Never Dared to Ask

AI teaches legal writing

The Recorder has Davis Wright Tremaine Turns to Gen AI to Teach Its Associates Legal Writing -- The firm’s proprietary software DWT Prose gives writing recommendations based on the work product of the firm’s experienced attorneys.

Book analyzes SCOTUS writing

The ABA Journal has The Supreme Court is a liberal body—when it comes to legal writing -- Prof. Jill Barton (U. of Miami) spent five years analyzing more than 10,000 pages from Supreme Court opinions, and The Supreme Guide to Writing is the result.

DJ appellate columns today & CMS 18th ed.

Today's DJ has PJ Gilbert's monthly column, titled Short -- In August, when both minds and readers are on vacation, I reflect on the art of brevity in writing and ponder the wisdom of aging.

Today's DJ also has the monthly Exceptionally Appealing column, this one titled Appellate Crash: What we'd miss, about what we'd miss if the state's appellate court computer systems went offline.

Also, LawProse Lesson 437 today has Did you hear about the new Chicago Manual?

The 18th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style has just been published. It’s the most comprehensive style manual ever, and it will answer virtually every question you might have. (Except, that is, for the kinds of legal-style issues that are answered in The Redbook: A Manual of Legal Style, published in its fifth edition in 2023.)

ABAJ articles of appellate note

The ABA journal has:

Chemerinsky: Saving American democracy will require constitutional reforms and Supreme Court term limits, about the Dean's latest book No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States.

Legal thriller author David Ellis' day job? Appellate court justice -- Justice David W. Ellis has served on the Illinois Appellate Court for the 1st District for nearly 10 years. But readers may know him better as author David Ellis, bestselling writer of more than a dozen legal thrillers. He was the youngest-serving justice in 2014 when he joined the Illinois Appellate Court for the 1st District, which serves Chicago and Cook County. And along the way, he published 11 novels, including the four-book Jason Kolarich series. He was a finalist for the ABA Journal-sponsored Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction in 2012 and 2013. He has also co-written nine books with James Patterson, the latest of which (Lies He Told Me) will be released in September.

From clerk to advocate

The ABA Journal has a great piece by AUSA Vanessa Kubota A Law Clerk's Transition: From umpire’s apprentice to fighter in the ring, in which she recounts some lessons from her clerkship at the Arizona Court of Appeals:

I applied for—and landed—a two-year appellate clerkship at Division One of the Arizona Court of Appeals—a popular choice among law clerk applicants for its uncommon practice of allowing its clerks to sit (and even chime) in on the secret deliberations of the panel. These were opportunities for us clerks to hone our oral advocacy skills.

She also notes that her judge, the Hon. David Weinzweig, will be releasing his book Zen in the Art of Legal Writing "soon."

SG arguers; new entries in Black's

The Volokh Conspiracy blog has a detailed breakdown of precisely who argued for the U.S. at SCOTUS: The Division of Oral Arguments in the Office of Solicitor General (OT 2001-OT 2023)

During the October Term 2023 (OT 2023), OSG argued a total of 53 cases. SG Elizabeth Prelogar argued ten cases and PDSG Brian Fletcher argued three cases. Four DSGs argued cases: Malcolm Stewart (3), Edwin Kneedler (2), Eric Feigin (2), and Curtis Gannon (2). The remaining 31 OSG cases were argued by the 15 ASGs.

Reuters has 'Hot-tubbing' and more. New terms in Black’s Law Dictionary (https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/column-hot-tubbing-more-new-terms-blacks-law-dictionary-2024-06-17/) 

The 12th edition of Black's came out earlier this month, with more than 2,500 new law-related words and phrases.

New additions to Black's include: ghost gun, deepfake, recalcitrant witness, hot-tubbing, crimmigration, black knight, gray knight, shotgun answer, bedbug letter, kakistocracy, code duello, cybersmearing, and shadow docket. 

Black's 12th ed. is out!

Thomson Reuters announces "the release of Black’s Law Dictionary, 12th Edition. It features 2,500 new terms, including definitions of more than 70,000 law-related words and phrases, plus over 5,000 scholarly and judicial quotations on legal terminology.

Every page in the 12th edition of this iconic dictionary has been supplemented and revised. Among the new terms in this edition are deepfake, ghost gun, make-my-day statute, and shadow docket. The greatly expanded 12th edition is the most comprehensive English-language law dictionary ever compiled.

Chief Editor Bryan A. Garner, long regarded as the world's leading legal lexicographer, has been at the helm of Black’s Law Dictionary since the 7th edition was published in 1999."

Also, re legal writing today, see To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef - Law360

AI opinions arrive!

Law.com has 11th Circuit Judge Uses ChatGPT in Deciding Appeal, Encourages Others to Consider It -- In a proposal he said “many will reflexively condemn as heresy,” Judge Kevin Newsom suggests that those who follow an “ordinary meaning” approach to law should consider how AI-powered LLMs such as ChatGPT can “inform the interpretive analysis.”

In a move he admitted might be seen by the profession as “heresy” or “unthinkable,” Newsom not only admitted to using ChatGPT, but wrote a 32-page concurrence outlining exactly how. In the May 28 opinion, Newson laid out his use of the generative AI chatbot to help inform his analysis of a key issue in an insurance appeal, and encouraged the legal community to consider following his lead.

Law360 has Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now? 

Bloomberg Law has More Black Women Ascend to Appellate Courts, While Men Stall

• No Black circuit judges under Trump, Biden focused on Black women
• Net loss of Black men on circuit courts under Biden

There are 13 Black women active judges on the 179-member appeals bench compared to 11 men, according to Federal Judicial Center data. The appointment of Black men to the US circuit courts has stagnated in the past decade.

7th Circ. Lambasts Lawyer's 'Twilight Zone' Font - Law360

A Seventh Circuit panel criticized an attorney's use of the typeface used in the "Twilight Zone" logo, urging lawyers to use more conventional fonts recommended in the court's handbook that won't "wear out judicial eyes," though the attorney told Law360 he's unlikely to change. 

Writing for the three-judge panel on Monday, U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook said lawyers practicing in the circuit should not use decorative texts — such as the Bernhard Modern typeface used by the attorney for virtual reality ride company AsymaDesign LLC in his appellate filings — because they're better suited for movie posters and television title sequences rather than legal briefs.

Lawyers should follow the typography suggestions in the court's handbook on the topic, "Practitioner's Handbook for Appeals," and typographer Matthew Butterick's similarly helpful book, "Typography for Lawyers," because they "promote the goals of reading, understanding and remembering" lengthy legal passages, Judge Easterbrook wrote.

In other 7th Cir. news Franchise Co. Faces Sanctions For 'Frivolous' 7th Circ. Appeal - Law360

In a Monday opinion authored by U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook, the three-judge panel said Sun Holdings "has followed up a frivolous defense during the arbitration with a frivolous strategy in court," adding that the company ignored Seventh Circuit precedent and proceeded "as if the only possible meaning of the contract is the one it espouses."

And Chief Justice's Leadership Is Falling Short, Schumer Says - Law360 -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday criticized U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for what he sees as lackluster efforts to address ethical impropriety among high court members.

Circuit font roundup

The Advocacy Blog has posted A Font by Any Other Name Does Not Read the Same which notes:

The First and Fourth Circuits issue opinions in Courier. The Second and Seventh Circuits utilize Palatino. The Fifth Circuit favors Century Schoolbook, as does the Supreme Court (although its orders are rendered in the very odd Lucida Sans Typewriter) and the Federal Circuit. The rest, the Third, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh rely on Times New Roman.

Writing tips; panel composition articles

Law360 has Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

• Be a good writer. -- To be a good brief writer, you must first be a good writer. That means using topic sentences in most paragraphs and transitions from one paragraph to the next. Shorter sentences with fewer clauses are better than longer sentences with lots of clauses.
• Know your audience. -- It is important that you know your audience. In other words, are you writing a brief for an error-correcting court, or are you writing to a precedent-setting court?
• Spend time wisely on the standard of review. -- The standard of review really matters when it matters. 
• Be complete and accurate with the record.
• Be intentional with the facts.
• Use a summary of argument.
• Does your brief need some legal context?
• Lead with the best.
• Be clear about what is an alternative argument.
• Be mindful of your tone.

Today's DJ's Exceptionally Appeal column is Predicting appellate outcomes based on the panel, discussing two recent law review articles: Klatchko & Keefer, Judicial Backgrounds Influence the Standard of Review, 55:1 Univ. Pac. L.Rev. 1 (Nov 2023) and Cohen, The Pervasive Influence of Political Composition on Circuit Court Decisions, Harvard Discussion Paper No. 1109, Feb. 2024.

ABA Litigation magazine draws on The Beatles!

The ABA Litigation Section's publication Litigation has super-fun themed-issue (vol. 50:2, Winter 2024) titled Litigation Road: A Magical Mystery Tour, in which 16 articles are titled with Beatles songs. Very clever and amusing!

Blue, Yellow, or ...

 

In response to yesterday's DJ piece by Zareh Jaltorossian, Judge Helen Williams writes that not all superior court judges want BlueBook citations; some prefer YellowBook. See Some superior court judges prefer the California Style Manual.

And Beds begins this unpub today with: "As Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “Money often costs too much.” In this case, money appears to have cost two siblings their relationship."

Roundup time

Today's DJ has Zareh Jaltorossian in Throwing the book at improper citations, sharing some general writing advice and urging that:

For trial court briefs, stick with the simpler Bluebook format we all learned in law school. For appellate briefs, follow the California Style Manual. Don’t combine the two systems. And when in doubt, call an appellate lawyer for advice. We’re always happy to talk citation format.

Today's DJ also has  Myron Moskovtiz's How to use precedent cases - Part 1, about non-binding precedent.

Here's an interesting unpub from 4/3, in which the appellant copied a dissenting decision from an unpub'd case (Srabian) to make an argument, but did not the cite case. The respondent calls this out, and here's what the court has to say:

Citing to rule 8.1115’s prohibition on citing to nonpublished cases, [Respondent] replies [Appellant] abandoned the issue because it copied Justice Kathleen Meehan’s dissenting opinion verbatim. [A] does not respond to [R's] assertion that it copied the dissenting opinion verbatim; it appears [A] did. [A] answers it did not cite to Srabian (indeed it did not mention Srabian at all in its opening brief), but merely adopted the dissenting opinion’s reasoning, which is permissible. We need not weigh in on this novel dispute. We recognize though that with the advent of online legal databases and the posting of nonpublished opinion we are certain the “adoption” of legal reasoning is common practice.

And NLJ has 'The Glue of This Court': Justices, Clerks Receive O'Connor's Casket at Supreme Court -- The nation's first female justice lies in repose at the Great Hall of the Supreme Court.

Inside the Great Hall, O’Connor’s casket was placed upon a catafalque that once supported the body of President Abraham Lincoln as he lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda after his assassination in 1865. The platform, covered in decorative black cloth, was loaned to the court by Congress for the ceremony.

O’Connor’s invitation-only funeral service will take place Tuesday at the National Cathedral. It will be livestreamed at cathedral.org.

Also of note is the Final Report of 2023 Legislation of Interest to Appellate Courts and the Judicial Council's Summary of Court-Related Legislation