Most lawyers think you win appeals with erudite dissertations on the law. Not me. The law matters, but the facts matter more. When I was a kid, I used to watch a TV show called Dragnet. L.A. homicide detective Joe Friday (who never smiled) would interview a befuddled witness with this reassurance: “Just the facts,…

Lawyers often find judges’ quirks annoying.  And losing is no fun.  Plus, it’s human nature to talk yourself into the justice of your cause, and bristle when someone donning a robe doesn’t buy it.   So we all get frustrated at the bench once in a while.  How should we vent this steam?  Mostly we just…

A collection of short articles on various aspects of appellate practice (brief-writing, oral argument, etc.)

The Problem If you lost in the Court of Appeal, you can then ask the California Supreme Court to hear your case, via a “petition for review”. The Supreme Court denies over 95% of these petitions. And, of course, even if the Court grants your petition for review, you might still lose when the Court…

In recent columns, I’ve discussed how trial lawyers might help appellate lawyers overturn defeats (or preserve victories) by doing certain things in the trial court — like setting up a good record for appeal. But there’s one more task — the most important one: properly filing the notice of appeal. If you screw up this…

I’m a pretty good appellate attorney, but I’m not good enough to win an appeal with a lousy trial court record. And I’m stuck with what the trial lawyer gives me. I’m not allowed to add any evidence or documents to it. It’s up to you, the trial attorney, to make sure that your appellate…