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Judge Kozinski set to Take the Helm

National Law Journal’s L.A. Legal Pad links to the NLJ profile (behind subscription wall) of Judge Alex Kozinski, who takes over as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth...

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Judicial Performance Commission Records Not Discoverable

In Commission on Judicial Performance v. Superior Court, case no. B201251 (2d Dist. Oct. 29, 2007), the court of appeal holds that records of the Commission on Judicial Performance are not...

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Updates to Code of Judicial Ethics

This press release from the Judicial Council of California announces that the Supreme Court has approved several amendments to the Code of Judicial Ethics.  The press release recounts the areas...

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A Technology-Induced Rush to Dismiss?

The Ninth Circuit has some unkind words for the district judge in Calderon v. IBEW Local 47, case no. 05-56937 (November 13, 2007). The district court dismissed the case for lack of prosecution because...

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Judge Kozinski’s Sense of Humor . . .

. . . apparently made its way into the press release announcing this Friday’s ceremonial “passing of the gavel,” when Judge Kozinski assumes chief judge duties.  Details at How Appealing.

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California’s 90-Day Rule

The California Constitution (Article VI, sec. 19) prohibits a judge from drawing pay “while any cause before the judge remains pending and undetermined for 90 days after it has been submitted for...

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Ninth Circuit Judicial Complaint Disposition Orders Published Online

Via NLJ’s L.A. Legal Pad comes news that, according to this press release from the Ninth Circuit, “disposition of judicial misconduct and disability complaints against federal judges sitting in the...

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Grisham Pens “The Appeal”

Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I can’t stomach most of the John Grisham I’ve read. Maybe it’s because The Firm was the first book of his that I read, and I found it (and the movie) excellent, that...

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The Mindset of Appellate Judges

Here is a well-stated look into the minds of appellate judges, from a 2-year old column by Howard Bashman: One essential trait that an appellate lawyer must possess is the ability to think about legal...

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Judgment assignees better be careful

Last month’s decision in Cal-Western Business Services, Inc. v. Corning Capital Group, case no. B241714 (2d Dist., November 6, 2013) makes for some interesting reading and a cautionary tale for those...

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A novelist/academic’s views on persuasive writing

A lawyer in one of my LinkedIn groups alerted the group to an interesting article that gives a non-lawyer’s perspective on persuasive writing. Introducing the article, St. Louis attorney Daniel Schramm...

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Why Some Lawyers and Their Clients are Reluctant to Engage Appellate Counsel,...

For those of you wondering, yes, this is a resumption of a series of posts I wrote years ago on reluctance to engage appellate counsel. (You can read the whole series here.) I was reviewing that series...

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Emotional interest falls short of legal standing to appeal dependency ruling

As a general rule, only a person “aggrieved” by a judgment has standing to appeal from it. Is a mother without reunification services “aggrieved” by a judgment granting her 18-year-old child’s request...

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Know your route of review . . . and when to invoke it

If you don’t know your route of review and when to invoke it, you end up like the plaintiff in Tejon Real Estate, LLC v. City of Los Angeles, B247255 (2d Dist. January 23, 2014). In fact, not only did...

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Make the argument yours, not someone else’s

You represent an appellant in a state court action who claims the action is precluded by a prior federal court action because the plaintiff split his cause of action between the two lawsuits. Your...

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How to write for the “iPad judge”

No brief would look good on my pathetic iPad, which has some of the pieces of its broken screen held on with tape! Are a lot of appellate judges/justices reading briefs on iPads these days? The...

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The law, the story, and the policy

Almost sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn’t it? (A law, a story, and a policy walk into a bar . . . ) But I’m not presenting these things as a joke. According to San Diego antitrust attorney...

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Justice Kennard retiring April 5

Justice Joyce Kennard has announced her retirement from the California Supreme Court effective April 5, on which she will mark the 25th anniversary of her appointment. The article at the San Francisco...

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The “outsider’s perspective” theory illustrated in the extreme

I’ve mentioned before that one of the valuable things an appellate lawyer can bring to your case is the “outsider’s perspective” — the ability to give the case an objective look that trial counsel is...

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Thoughts on publication of opinions imposing appellate sanctions for...

This recent Southern California Appellate News post by Ben Shatz led me to a case that got me thinking further about the utility of publishing opinions imposing appellate sanctions. More than six years...

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