9th Cir. program available on YouTube

Monday's OCBA 9th Circuit Dos and Don'ts program, featuring Judges Callahan, Ikuta, and Faber (SDWV) was webcast live and is also available here. And a recap of the program appears in today's DJ article Dos and Don'ts in the 9th Circuit, by the program's moderator Jimmy Azadian and Cory Webster. Some tidbits:

• As Judge Callahan pointed out, poor advocacy does not lose a case. But poor advocacy frustrates judges and their law clerks because it creates more work for the court to get to the right result. Additionally, substandard representation can destroy an attorney’s credibility.

• Brief writing: Act as a teacher and don’t hide the ball. Briefs should be short and crisp, and get right to the heart of the case. The best briefs are authored more as if from a teacher than an advocate. Take the reader by the hand, and lay out the story and the law in an (almost) impartial way.

• FRAP 28(j) letters are for new, not newly discovered, authorities.

• Don’t minimize the role of oral argument in the 9th Circuit.