Are you expecting a lawsuit? And do you want to get that lawsuit into federal court? If your client is domiciled in California, you need to know about “snap removals.” If you get wind of the lawsuit before it is served, you might be able to defeat the removal-bar on home-state defendants. But don’t commit a “super snap” removal. That’s when you remove before the complaint is officially filed. The 9th Circuit just rejected those. We discuss Casola v. Dexcom, Inc., and how to learn about lawsuits before they are even filed. Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitte ..read more

Racial minorities are sometimes removed from prospective juries—just like everybody else. But the Legislature is so concerned that this could happen on the (obviously improper) basis of race that the Racial Justice Act prohibits a challenge to a racial minority even on the basis of proper factors, such as lack of life experience. And if that happens, the Legislature has declared not only that this is against law, but operates as a get-a-new-trial-free card. But the California Constitution prohibits get-a-new-trial-free cards. Instead, no judgment may be reversed—even if the judgment is rife wi ..read more

Every day as an appeals lawyer brings new puzzles. But some puzzles repeat. So in this episode, we compile the top 10 tips dispensed regularly to trial attorneys working in family court. They include: ? Know your appealable issues—appeal now, or lose it forever! ? Request a statement of decision. Don’t need to, you say? Judge already gave a tentative opinion, you say? You really need to hear this advice. ? Get the standard of review right, and use this tip when challenging discretionary rulings. ? Brief like an appellate attorney: Put cites on everything. Put headers on everything. ? Make a re ..read more

We discuss how to avoid appellate sanctions, and an unusually successful motion for reconsideration: $50k sanctions against appellant for blowing appellate procedure. Motion for reconsideration was untimely, but righteous. Trial judge did not take the Court of Appeal’s hint, so writ issued. (But the trial judge was right to let the writ issue.) Anti-SLAPPs don’t require a line-by-line list of allegations like regular strike motions. But there’s a split on this. Do you need appellate specialization credits? Maybe not as many as you think if you use Lisa Perrochet’s tip. We also discuss a case ..read more

There are 30,000 law clerks in the U.S., and we have no good way to know to judge their experiences. So Judge Douglas Nazarian of the Appellate Court of Maryland—and board member of the Legal Accountability Project—asks judges everywhere to take the LAP Pledge. The Project hosts a growing database of survey responses from judicial clerks, but it needs judges to pledge that they will invite their clerks to fill out the surveys. Uncomfortable taking the pledge publicly? No problem: please invite your clerks to do the survey anyway. Why should you support the Legal Accountability Project? Judge N ..read more

You thought health and wellness was just for hippies, losers and weirdos. But you were wrong. Leslie Porter explains that if you are waiting for your health issues to become acute enough for a prescription, you are not at your best. Not only are you laying the groundwork for possible big problems down the road, you have lower energy, weakened drive, and diminished alertness. If you won’t do it for yourself, get healthy to crush your enemies better. Leslie Porter’s biography and LinkedIn profile. Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialis ..read more

Next time your opposing counsel takes issue with something you say, don’t be surprised to find a complaint in the next filing citing to rule 8.3 of the Rules of Professional Conduct—the new “snitch rule.” There are about a dozen terms of legal art in the snitch rule, so we asked Judge Meredith Jury (Ret.) and Certified Bankruptcy Specialist Stella Havkin what they mean: If you arguably misstate fact or law, is that a reportable event? Answer: Assume it is. What will this do to collegiality in the profession? Answer: Nothing good. If a partner committed indiscretions with the trust account, do ..read more

Just a few years out of law school, Kyle O’Malley won a landmark case in the Supreme Court of California. The employer’s screening service in *Raines v. US Healthworks Medical Group*, 15 Cal.5th 268 (2023) used a generic questionnaire asking about menstrual cycles, hemorrhoids, hair loss, and all sorts of fool questions not tailored to the specific job (or to any job, for that matter). Even though the agent was not the “employer,” the Court held that business agents performing employment-related tasks for other companies can be held liable for discrimination under California’s Fair Employment ..read more

The 9th Circuit is taking up the ostensible narrow issue of appealability of anti-SLAPP orders. But it could be broader. Much broader. If the court decides anti-SLAPPs are procedural rather than substantive, says Cory Webster, that would mean no more anti-SLAPP motions in federal court. We also discuss that recent panel that departed from an earlier decision, ruling it was “clearly irreconcilable” with recent Supreme Court precedent, even if it arguably wasn’t. And why was that homelessness case—which ultimately came down to a procedural question of waiver—published? Did Judge Bumatay, who aut ..read more

The Supreme Court has granted cert on whether prosecuting a homeless sidewalk-camper is cruel and unusual punishment. And the 9th Circuit has granted en banc review whether anti-SLAPP denials are appealable. Also: You are doing MSJ separate statements wrong (maybe). There are two schools of thought, and the Court of Appeal in a partially published opinion came down hard against the school that includes in the separate statement all narrative and background facts. Tim and Jeff discuss. Appellate Specialist Jeff Lewis' biography, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter feed. Appellate Specialist Tim Kowal ..read more