Mock Trial judges needed in Oakland

Teach Democracy (the nonprofit behind the Appellate Court Experience program) needs volunteer judges for its Mock Trial program in Oakland on March 20-22. Info here.

AI sanctions coming?

Law360 reports Boies Schiller Partner Faces Possible Sanctions For AI Errors about Bixler v. Church of Scientology pending in 2/5 with argument set for March 3 at 9 a.m. See Notice of Potential Sanctions.

Law360 also reports Attys Regret Unnoticed ChatGPT Errors In Conn. Court Filings -- Attorneys ordered to explain errors in two January Connecticut Supreme Court briefs said ChatGPT altered legal arguments that counsel did not notice when they asked the artificial intelligence software to help limit duplicate passages, meet word count rules and format the filings.

J.Alito article / Goldstein convicted

On Bloomberg Law, David Lat has Justice Samuel Alito Won’t Hang Up His Robes Anytime Soon, which begins:

On Jan. 31, Justice Samuel Alito celebrated his 20th anniversary as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court.
On April 1, he’ll turn 76.
On Oct. 6, he’ll release his first book, “So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country.”

Bloomberg Law has Goldstein Convicted on 12 of 16 Criminal Counts After Trial -- Poker-playing former US Supreme Court litigator Tom Goldstein has been found guilty of 12 of 16 counts following a six week trial in Maryland.

2d/6th Circuit Chiefs to go senior

 Appellate news of note: Senior Status announcements from chiefs in in the 2d and 6th Circuits: 

2nd Circuit Chief Judge Livingston to Take Senior Status -- Debra Ann Livingston’s departure from active service will give President Donald Trump his first opportunity in his second term to make an appointment to the New York City-based federal appeals court. (Law.com)

6th Circ. Chief Judge To Take Senior Status -- Chief Sixth Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton announced on Friday that he will take senior status on Oct. 1 after more than 20 years on the bench. (Law360) Judge Sutton's seat will give Trump the second opening on the Sixth Circuit of his second term.

And Law360 also has 10th, 5th Circ. Stalwarts Step Back From Bench

U.S. Circuit Judge Timothy Tymkovich has announced that he'll take senior status from his seat on the Tenth Circuit, just a day after U.S. Circuit Judge James L. Dennis said he'd step down from the Fifth Circuit.

RIP APJ Kremer

In Memoriam: Justice Daniel J. Kremer
Retired Administrative Presiding Justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Daniel Kremer passed on February 17, 2026. By Brandon Henson

Retired Administrative Presiding Justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Daniel Kremer passed on February 17, 2026. Presiding Justice Kremer is a 1960 graduate of Stanford University with a degree in political science and a 1963 graduate of Stanford Law School. He was admitted to the California bar and to practice before the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in January 1964. He became a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court in 1969.

From 1964 to 1972 he was a deputy attorney general in the Sacramento office of the California Attorney General where he represented the State of California in criminal trials and appeals including death penalty cases before the California Supreme Court. In 1972 he was named head of the Attorney General’s San Diego office criminal division and in 1983 became Chief Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Attorney General’s criminal division statewide.

In 1983 Governor Deukmejian appointed him to the San Diego County Superior Court. There he served in the court’s civil, criminal, law and motion and juvenile departments. In July 1985, Governor Deukmejian elevated him to the Court of Appeal as presiding justice. The voters of the State of California elected him to a full term in 1986 and reelected him to a second full term in 1998. Presiding Justice Kremer retired in 2003 and was succeeded by Presiding Justice Judith McConnell. Following his retirement, Presiding Justice participated in the Legacy Project, the video of which can be viewed here.

Presiding Justice Kremer chaired the Judicial Council’s Committee on Criminal Trial Delay Reduction and the Council’s Library Technology Committee. He was later named a member of the California Judicial Council, the policy making body for California’s courts. While a Council member, he chaired the Judicial Council’s Rules and Forms Committee and was co-chair of California’s first Court Technology Committee. Justice Kremer chaired the Task Force on Court Facilities, a body created by the Legislature and charged with evaluating every courthouse in California and recommending steps necessary to bring deficient sites up to acceptable standards. In 2002, Justice Kremer received the Judicial Council's Jurist of the Year award.

Presiding Justice Kremer is preceded by his wife Kathryn of 56 years and survived by his sons Aaron and Brendan.

CAAL Fellowship applications due April 6

CAAL Fellowship Program

The California Academy of Appellate Lawyers is proud to announce the opening of the application period for the 2026-2027 Fellowship Program.

The Fellowship Program has two main goals:
(1) To increase the diversity of participants in the Academy’s educational and social programs, and
(2) To introduce the Academy to appellate lawyers for future candidacy.

The following qualifications will be considered in selecting participants in the Fellowship Program:
(1) Good character and professional reputation,
(2) Outstanding appellate skills and ability, and
(3) A continuing commitment to quality appellate practice.

To qualify for candidacy, a Fellow must have been a member of the California Bar for at least 3 years, and must spend a substantial amount of time on appellate work in a typical year.

Additionally, the Academy will consider an applicant’s contribution to the diversity of participants in the Academy’s programs, which includes (but is not limited to) geographic location, area of practice, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation.

The application period will be open through April 6, 2026. To apply, please go to https://calappellate.org/fellowship-program/fellowship-application

For more information or with questions, please contact Stephanie Finelli at steph@finellilaw.com

3 appellate appointments!

Governor Gavin Newsom announced his nomination of three Court of Appeal Justices: Justice Joanne Motoike as Presiding Justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three, Judge Stephen Goorvitch as Associate Justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two, and Judge Amy Guerra as Associate Justice of the Fifth District Court of Appeal.

Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two



Stephen Goorvitch, of Los Angeles County, has been appointed to serve as an Associate Justice in the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two. Goorvitch has served as a Judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2015. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 2007 to 2015. He was Counsel at O’Melveny and Myers from 2003 to 2007. Goorvitch served as a law clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2002 to 2003 and in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California from 2001 to 2002. He served as a Staff Attorney in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 1998 to 2001. Goorvitch received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Judith T. Ashmann-Gerst. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Senior Presiding Justice Francis Rothschild. Goorvitch is a Democrat.
Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three



Joanne Motoike, of Orange County, has been appointed to serve as the Presiding Justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three. Motoike has served as an Associate Justice in the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three since 2022. Motoike served as a Judge in the Orange County Superior Court from 2013 to 2022. She served as a Senior Deputy Public Defender at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office from 2008 to 2013. Motoike worked as a Trial Attorney at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal from 2006 to 2008. She served as a Deputy Public Defender at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office from 1994 to 2006. Motoike received a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Kathleen E. O’Leary. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Senior Presiding Justice Manuel Ramirez. Motoike is a Democrat.
Fifth District Court of Appeal



Amy Guerra, of Fresno County, has been appointed to serve as an Associate Justice of the Fifth District Court of Appeal. Guerra has served as a Judge in the Fresno County Superior Court since 2018. Guerra worked as the Chief Defense Attorney at the Fresno County Alternate Defense Office from 2014 to 2018, where she also worked as an Associate from 2007 to 2014. Guerra received a Juris Doctor degree from the San Joaquin College of Law. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Bruce Smith. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Senior Presiding Justice Brad Hill. Guerra is a Democrat.

The compensation for each of these positions is $280,052

Plus, Commissioner Victoria Shapiro has been appointed to LASC. She served as the Lead Judicial Attorney at the Second District Court of Appeal since 2021, where she also served as a Senior Judicial Attorney from 2016 to 2021 and as a Judicial Attorney from 2015 to 2016.

And, Carl Chamberlin, of San Francisco County, has been appointed to serve as a Judge in the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Chamberlin has served as the Lead Appellate Court Attorney at the First District Court of Appeal, First Appellate District since 1999.

The DJ has Newsom elevates three to appellate courts, names seven trial judges -- Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated three justices to the state Courts of Appeal and appointed seven Superior Court judges in five counties, continuing a reshaping of California's judiciary.

The MetNews has Newsom Taps Goorvitch for Court of Appeal Seat.

New SCOTUS rules re stock ticker symbols etc.

 Law360 has Supreme Court Adopts Rule To Suss Out Stock Conflicts

• The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday that litigants will soon be required to include companies' stock ticker symbols in court documents as part of new rules aimed at helping the justices identify potential conflicts of interest.
• The new rules, which take effect March 16, call for litigants to list all involved parties, along with their respective stock ticker symbols, in the "Parties to the Proceeding" sections of their briefs, even if the party's name appears in the case caption. A new software developed by the Supreme Court will use those lists to run automated recusal checks against a list of conflicts provided by each justice, the court said in a news release.
• In addition to the new disclosure requirements, the Supreme Court announced new rules about filing deadlines Tuesday. The court changed Rule 29, which governs the filing of documents, to add that a filing is considered timely if "it is properly submitted to the court's electronic filing system on or before the last day for filing." If a document is submitted electronically, paper copies must be delivered or mailed to the Supreme Court within three days, the court added.
• See the rules here and the revisions here

Bloomberg Law's article is Supreme Court Embraces Tool to Flag Stock, Other Conflicts

Proposed amendments to CRC 8.1115, 8.1125

The Supreme Court has issued an invitation to comment on amendments to rules 8.1116 and 8.1125:

The amendments would:
(1) allow unpublished appellate opinions to be cited for certain purposes in addition to those presently allowed under rule 8.1115(b);
(2) remove language from rule 8.1115(e)(2) providing for the restoration of the precedential status of a Court of Appeal opinion in a review-granted case that has been “held” for another review-granted matter immediately upon the Supreme Court’s decision on review in the “lead” case;
(3) incorporate within rule 8.1115 principles presently articulated only in that rule’s comment regarding the citation and precedential status of published Court of Appeal opinions when review is pending before the Supreme Court, or after a decision on review by the court; and
(4) add to those who must be served with a request for depublication in the Supreme Court (see rule 8.1125(a)(5)) any person who had successfully requested that the authoring court certify the opinion for publication.

All comments must be emailed to the court at CSC2026-Comments@jud.ca.gov no later than Wednesday, March 25, 2026.

Who will be next SCOCA justice?

The DJ has David Carrillo, Brandon Stracener, and Stephen Duvernay's Gov. Newsom will probably go to the appellate bench for the next SCOCA justice

• As the clock ticks away days with an empty California Supreme Court seat, all eyes turn to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Who will he appoint? ... Considering history and the widely reported indications of the governor's future aspirations, the most likely choice is a centrist Court of Appeal justice who will bang out lots of opinions and generate zero headlines, doing no harm to any future political campaigns.
• Past governors have used a wide variety of selection considerations. For his lone appointment to the state high court Gov. Gray Davis tapped federal district court judge Carlos Moreno to replace Stanley Mosk. According to Chief Justice Phil Gibson, Gov. Goodwin Knight had only politics and money in mind when he made his one appointment (Marshall McComb) to the court. Gov. Jerry Brown stands out with his intentional efforts in the 1970s to shake up the court with academics in particular and generally people from outside the traditional track. And Gov. George Deukmejian's mission in his eight appointments was to undo all that Gov. Brown had done.
• Our prediction is that a Court of Appeal justice, with unquestioned bona fides and wide respect, probably male, maybe Hispanic, perhaps not from the Bay Area, goes to the Commission on Judicial Appointments by summer.

The Recorder has As Newsom Makes His Name Out of State, California's Supreme Court Awaits New Justice -- Associate Justice Martin Jenkins left office last year. Will his replacement be chosen through the lens of presidential ambitions?

Jenkins left the Supreme Court at the end of October. In the nearly four months since the veteran jurist’s departure, Newsom has given no indication that his next appointment is on the horizon or even a priority.

See also in the SF Chronical Top court vacancy impacting case flow

The DJ also has Myron Moskovitz's Will AI replace me? -- Although AI can speed up legal research and handle routine analysis, the human intuition and judgment required to persuade appellate judges remain uniquely human strengths.

Bloomberg Law has Solicitor General Pushing Justices to Take More Cases Uninvited

Law.com has Can AI Give You a Seat Inside the Supreme Court? -- A new website, "On he Docket," provides AI-generated videos of justices reading their Supreme Court opinions from the bench.

Next Thursday, Feb. 26, LACBA 's Appellate Section presents an Overview of Appellate Motions (by H&L's David Axelrad and Melissa Whalen) at noon, and also at noon LACBA's Litigation Section presents Protecting the Record on Appeal (by PJ's Edmon and Zukin).

DJ profiles retired J.Benke

Today's DJ has Retired justice Patricia Benke champions classic mediation model -- Now a neutral with ADR Services, retired 4th District Court of Appeal justice Justice Patricia D. Benke encourages joint sessions, creative problem-solving and careful written analysis drawn from nearly four decades on the bench.

• Retired justice Patricia D. Benke spent nearly four decades on the bench and authored more than 400 published appellate decisions. "When I retired, West's gave me volumes for everything I worked on, ... and there were six volumes of cases," Benke said with a chuckle. "And those are just the published ones."
• Benke worked for 35 years as an associate justice for the 4th District Court of Appeal before retiring in the summer of 2021.
• Along with her reference, arbitration and forthcoming mediation work, Benke has also been helping attorneys strengthen their appellate case arguments through moot courts. "It's not a matter of just listening [or] giving practice to the attorneys. It's shaping the case," Benke said of her moot court approach. "It's saying, 'Wait a minute. This is what you need. This is the line you need to lead [with] when you come out and when you first talk.'"

2d Dist. pro tem update & AI sanctions

The following are currently sitting on assignment in the 2d District:

• Justice Arthur Gilbert (Retired) of the Second District Court of Appeal will be sitting Pro Tem in Division Two through March 31, 2026
• Judge Sanjay Kumar (Retired) of the Los Angeles County Superior Court will be sitting Pro Tem in Division Five through February 17, 2026
• Judge Von T. Nguyen Deroian of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court will be sitting Pro Tem in Division Six through March 31, 2026
• Judge Alexander C.D. Giza of the Los Angeles County Superior Court will be sitting Pro Tem in Division Seven through March 31, 2026

Law360 has 10th Circ. Ends Civil Rights Suit, Sanctions Atty For AI Errors -- the panel imposed a $1,000 sanction against pro se litigant Kusmin Amarsingh under Rule 38 for her "reckless disregard of the attorney's duties to the court" in utilizing ChatGPT to help draft a brief that inadvertently included seven "hallucinations."

9th Cir. en banc article

Law.com has Navigating an 11-Judge Pile-Up: Orrick Associates Talk Shop About En Banc Ninth Circuit Arguments -- Katherine Munyan and Alyssa Barnard-Yanni, two senior associates at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, both based in New York, have handled en banc arguments at the Ninth Circuit over the past six months.

2026 SCOCA Roundup

UC Berkely Law's California Constitution Center presents its 2026 SCOCA Roundup Feb. 27 from noon to 1, featuring the Davids (Ettinger and Carrillo), who will discuss significant recent cases and developments at the California Supreme Court. Hosted by the California Supreme Court Historical Society.  

Appellate lawyers on the move: Jenkins and Bielak and Fisher and Ginsburg

Margaret Bielak joined Complex Appellate Litigation Group LLP as a counsel in San Francisco. Bielak served as a research attorney with the 1st District Court of Appeal for nearly a quarter century. During her tenure, she was the lead appellate court attorney in the chambers of Presiding Justice Alison Tucher in Division Three and previously a senior research attorney for Justice Maria Rivera in Division Four. She also served as a law clerk to California Supreme Court Justice Edward Panelli and practiced with a large national law firm. Bielak will be CALG's 27th appellate attorney.

Kirk Jenkins joined Kahana Feld as a partner in San Francisco. Jenkins is a member of the National Appellate Litigation & Consulting Group with nearly four decades of experience as a litigator and appellate advocate. He has handled a broad range of complex litigation, with particular emphasis on antitrust and trade regulation in both civil and criminal matters, including price-fixing, monopolization, essential facilities, and tying claims. His practice also encompasses class actions, constitutional litigation, employment law, personal injury, insurance coverage, consumer protection, privacy, intellectual property, whistleblower actions, and sophisticated business and contract disputes. Jenkins has served as lead appellate counsel in more than 250 appeals and as an appellate consultant to dozens of trial teams nationwide. An accomplished writer and researcher in judicial analytics, regression analysis, and decision-tree modeling, he frequently speaks on appellate law, legal analytics, and emerging issues in the profession.

Stanford Law Prof. Jeffrey Fisher, who has argued 50 SCOTUS cases, has joined Hecker Fink as of counsel. He was formerly special counsel at O'Melveny.

And appellate specialist Ben Ginsburg has been elevated to partner at Michelman & Robinson, LLP.

Check the local rules!

1/5 published this opinion, which begins like this:

Our local rules require that all parties promptly notify us about a bankruptcy that could affect our ability to decide an appeal. Despite this requirement, the parties in this case waited over four months after the filing of a bankruptcy petition by plaintiff Navellier and Associates, Inc. (NAI) and just two days before oral argument to tell us about that petition. Exacerbating the potential consequences of this delay, plaintiffs Louis Navellier and NAI now contend that the automatic bankruptcy stay precludes us from deciding this appeal. (11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(1).) If plaintiffs are correct, then the parties’ failure to provide timely notice of the bankruptcy would have caused this court to squander its valuable time and resources. Fortunately, plaintiffs are not correct because Navellier did not file for bankruptcy and because NAI, the debtor, brought this action. Although the harm to this court caused by the parties’ violation of our local rules is therefore minimized, this does not excuse their misconduct. Although we do not sanction the parties, we do admonish them and advise them to learn and follow our local rules in the future.

The MetNews story is Counsel Cited for Not Following Local Rule About Bankruptcy -- Opinion Says Both Sides Were Derelict in Failing to Timely Inform Court of Plaintiff’s Pending Proceedings Where First District Guidelines Call for Notice, Outside Assurance That Petition Would Not Affect Appeal Is No Excuse

Prof. Martin's take is here.

New CAAL Members!

California Academy of Appellate Lawyers Announces Three New Members

The California Academy of Appellate Lawyers is pleased to announce that it admitted three new members at its January, 2026 meeting: Joshua Klein, Jeff Michalowski, and Radha Pathak.

• Mr. Klein is the Supervising Deputy Solicitor General at the California Department of Justice. Mr. Klein received his B.A. from Amherst College and his J.D. from Stanford Law School. After law school, he clerked for Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the United States Supreme Court.
• Mr. Michalowski is a Partner at Quarles, where he Vice-Chairs the firm’s national appellate practice. Mr. Michalowski received his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
• Ms. Pathak is a Partner at Stris & Maher LLP. Ms. Pathak received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her J.D. from NYU School of Law. After law school, she clerked for Judge Raymond C. Fisher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Founded in 1972, the Academy is the nation’s oldest lawyers’ organization dedicated to appellate practice. Our members are California lawyers with substantial appellate experience, who are elected to membership after rigorous scrutiny of their reputation, character, and appellate advocacy skills. Academy members are frequently counsel of record in the most complex and highest-impact cases before the California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal, and federal appellate courts. For further information, contact CAAL President Sean SeLegue: sean.selegue@arnoldporter.com. More information about the Academy appears on its website at www.CalAppellate.org.

LASC under water today?

Superior Court of Los Angeles County to Temporarily Suspend Superior Court Operations at the Spring Street Courthouse on Wednesday, February 4, Due to Water Damage

Superior Court of Los Angeles County to Temporarily Suspend Superior Court Operations at the Spring Street Courthouse on Wednesday, February 4, Due to Water Damage

Out of an abundance of caution to protect the safety of court users, court staff and judicial officers, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County is temporarily suspending operations at the Spring Street Courthouse, located at 312 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, on Wednesday, February 4, due to potential issues resulting from remediation efforts to address a water leak.

The Court, which leases space from the Spring Street Courthouse for Superior Court operations from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), is actively working with the GSA and the Judicial Council of California to conduct an assessment of the damage to ensure the Spring Street Courthouse is safe for court users, court staff and judicial officers

A list of Superior Court departments at the Spring Street Courthouse can be found here.

Oral arg tips

David Lat's Original Jurisdiction has 3 Tips For Appellate Advocates—From Paul Clement:

1. Listen, listen, listen.

2. Stay nimble

3. Keep it conversational--and candid

2025 Appellate Year in Review program

CEB's annual appellate year-in-review webinar has dropped: Key Developments in Appellate Practice 2025 

Justices Adams, D.Kim, and Weingart (and appellate specialist Ben Shatz) discuss the year that was for California appellate practice, focusing on new rules, new practices, appellate news of note, and cases on appealability and appellate ethics. Counts for 1.75 hours of Appellate Specialization CLE credit.