There is an aspect of practice before the California Supreme Court that is often overlooked, especially by the occasional appellate practitioner.  That is the simple or complicated, fascinating or mind-numbing (depending on your perspective) matter of citation form.  By itself, it won’t win your case.  But it can help set the right tone.  Let us [...]

Rule 8.25(b)(3) of the California Rules of Court provides that “[a] brief, a petition for rehearing, an answer to a petition for rehearing, a petition for review, an answer to a petition for review, or a reply to an answer to a petition for review is timely if the time to file it has not [...]

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 [...]

Maura Dolan’s profile of California Supreme Court Clerk Fritz Ohlrich in the Los Angeles Times today is worth a read for anyone litigating a case before the high court.   Fleshing out our own nod to the clerk in a recent post, the profile aptly illustrates Ohlrich’s caring and earnest approach to his job.  Unlike some court functionaries [...]

A few weeks ago, on August 11, 2010, the California Supreme Court granted review 7-0 in a case involving a rather obscure issue of appellate procedure.  The court granted review in Rossa v. D. L. Falk Co. (No. S183523) to decide:  ““Does California Rules of Court, rule 8.278(d)(1)(F), which permits a successful appellant to recover [...]

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 [...]

Our weekly conference reports help attorneys stay right on top of the issues pending before the California Supreme Court.  This isn’t a subject of interest just to folks handling Supreme Court cases.  At numerous points in the life of litigation, an attorney may be interested to know what issues are in play.  When drafting a [...]

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 [...]

Imagine you have been contacted by a client who has lost in the California Court of Appeal and wants to hire you to file a petition for review in the California Supreme Court.  How do you become official “counsel of record” for the Supreme Court proceedings?  The answer is more complicated than you might think.  Don’t bother looking in the [...]

In the last few years, the U.S. Supreme Court has seen a remarkable increase in the number of amicus briefs filed in support of petitions for certiorari, an increase that mirrors a similar rise in merits stage amicus briefing. As noted in this article, “[i]n the 73 cases that were granted and decided last term [...]