Here it is, hot off the presses, the Court’s 2012 Calendar.  It shows oral argument dates and locations, conference dates and court holidays.

The California Supreme Court yesterday heard its first oral argument under Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who was formally sworn in on Monday.  Prior to the argument, the Clerk of the Court and Justice Kennard both commented on the significance of the moment. Clerk of the Court Frederick Ohlrich relayed a personal anecdote to the assembled [...]

When clients ask how long it will be until the Supreme Court decides a case, we tell them it depends on the length of three time periods, only two of which are predictable.  We can give a ballpark estimate of how long briefing will take:  give or take an extension or two, the rules set the deadlines [...]

As previously mentioned in this post, the special oral argument sessions in Fresno were televised.  They’re now available online, and can make for an interesting diversion (say, hypothetically speaking, for a group of appellate lawyers having a lunch time gathering in the conference room).  For example, one can view Tuesday’s oral argument in Pineda v. [...]

The Supreme Court would normally be holding oral arguments this month in Sacramento, but its home there is being renovated, so the court is taking its show on the road.  Tomorrow and Wednesday, the court will hear arguments in eight cases in Fresno, at the attractive, new Fifth District Court of Appeal building. Also, unlike their [...]

We have recently posted about a series of articles discussing the benefits of oral argument.  Those articles focused primarily on the potential impact of oral argument in California appellate courts in affecting the outcome of decisions.  Earlier this year, Jeff Bleich (current Ambassador to Australia, and former special advisor to President Obama and California State [...]

A useful resource for those preparing to argue before the California Supreme Court—and for appellate advocates generally—is the Court’s collection of archived broadcasts of selected oral arguments.  The collection consists mostly of audio recordings, with a few videos thrown in, including this video of the argument in the Proposition 8 Cases, courtesy of the California [...]

In today’s Daily Journal [subscription required], Presiding Justice Norman Epstein and Justice Richard Mosk of the Second District Court of Appeal have each responded to Professor Myron Moskovitz’s September 9 article entitled “Abolish Oral Argument,” which we discussed in this post.  In that article, Professor Moskovitz argues that oral argument is generally not a useful [...]

Myron Moskovitz, a law professor at Golden Gate University, has written a provocative opinion piece for the Los Angeles Daily Journal entitled “Abolish Oral Argument” [subscription required].  The article discusses what some might describe as “the dirty little secret” of California appellate advocacy—that oral argument is rarely effective in changing the outcome of an appeal [...]

A Daily Journal article [subscription required] this week described the pending proceedings in which the California Supreme Court will decide whether the Governor has authority to issue an executive order imposing a mandatory two-day-a-month unpaid furlough for state employees.  You can watch a video of the September 8 oral argument in that case here.  Even [...]

Never let it be said that the Supreme Court can’t do more than one thing at a time.  The Court heard oral arguments in nine cases yesterday and today, including a well-publicized argument this morning about furloughing state workers.  Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Court was dealing with another high-profile issue:  whether the Governor and/or [...]

An occasional tactic by an appellant’s attorney is to reserve all his or her time for the rebuttal argument, making no opening argument at all.  The supposed intent is to prevent the respondent’s counsel from knowing exactly what to focus on, and then having all one’s time to get in the last word. A savvy [...]

When presenting an appellate argument, it is always a good idea to plan to arrive early.  If presenting argument in a strange court for the first time, it may even be worthwhile to scout the terrain a day in advance or, if you have an afternoon argument, attend the morning calendar and watch the court [...]

The California Supreme Court gives each side 30 minutes to present oral argument regardless of the number of parties on that side, allows the parties to request to divide oral argument among multiple counsel, and generally forbids argument segments of less than ten minutes per advocate.  (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.524(e) and (f).)  This [...]