Our Latest Featured Speaker is Hon. Michael J. Raphael of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Two!

Justice Raphael served as chief of the Criminal Appeals Section from 2007 to 2012 after serving as deputy chief from 2005 to 2007.  As chief, Justice Raphael oversaw an annual appellate docket of roughly 300 briefs and 100 oral arguments in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Justice Raphael personally argued 41 cases in Ninth Circuit on behalf of the United States, including three en banc cases presented to an 11-judge panel.  Justice Raphael co-taught Advanced Appellate Advocacy at the Gould School of Law at the University of California in 2005 and 2006; he also co-taught a seminar in criminal sentencing in 2008.  Justice Raphael lectured frequently on appellate brief writing and oral argument while an attorney.

In 2012, Justice Raphael became a Judge on the Los Angeles Superior Court upon his appointment by Governor Jerry Brown.   On that court, Justice Raphael initially handled assignments that included small claims, limited civil, unlawful detainer, and criminal misdemeanors.  He then served in the downtown civil “law and motion” courts that handled pretrial cases for the entire county in limited civil and personal injury cases.  For Justice Raphael’s last three years on the trial bench, he was assigned to a downtown civil independent calendar court, with a docket of a wide variety of civil cases.  While on the trial court, Justice Raphael was twice appointed to serve as a pro tem Justice in Division Five of the Second District Court of Appeal.

In 2018, Governor Brown nominated Justice Raphael to serve as an Associate Justice on the Court of Appeal, and he was unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, after receiving an “exceptionally well qualified” rating from the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission.

We are so happy to welcome you back, Justice Raphael!

Our Latest Featured Speaker is Anne Rauch of Berding & Weil LLP!

Anne is speaking at our upcoming 10th Annual Advanced Appellate Practice Program (CA), set for February 25th and 27th, 2025.

Our Latest Featured Speaker is Hon. Brian Hoffstadt of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Two!

Justice Brian Hoffstadt is speaking at our upcoming 10th Annual Advanced Appellate Practice Program (CA), set for February 25th and 27th, 2025.

Justice Hoffstadt is co-teaching “Lessons for Civil Litigators from Court of Appeal Criminal Practice,“ alongside Justice Michael J. Raphael, on February 25. You can see the detailed agenda and the rest of the program, and sign up to watch it live or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download here.

Justice Hoffstadt has previously taught at our Advanced Appellate Conference, where attendees appreciated Justice Hoffstadt’s candor and advice. This program and others are available for purchase as a recorded package or OnDemand Streaming here.

Justice Brian Hoffstadt has served as an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal since 2014. Immediately prior to that, he served as a judge on the Los Angeles Superior Court for four years. As a lawyer, he practiced in both federal and California courts. Immediately after law school, he clerked for Ninth Circuit Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He then spent three years doing legal policy work for two different federal agencies in Washington, D.C., and the following six-plus years as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles, where he prosecuted criminal cases in federal district court and argued 26 appeals before the Ninth Circuit. In 2007, he joined the Issues and Appeals practice group at Jones Day, where he argued appeals and helped formulate trial strategy in state and federal court. He has been teaching law students, lawyers and judges for many years, is the author of California Criminal Discovery (5th ed.), has published nearly a dozen law review articles, and is a regular contributor to the Daily Journal. He was recently elected to the American Law Institute, and has served on the Executive Committee of the Appellate Judges Conference of the American Bar Association since 2015.

Our Latest Featured Speaker is Hon. Daniel H. Bromberg of the California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District!

Hon. Daniel H. Bromberg is speaking at our upcoming 10th Annual Advanced Appellate Practice Program (CA) program on February 25th and 27th, 2025. The program is taught by a host of seasoned Justices and top-notch appellate attorneys. The majority of the practitioners speaking hold the distinction of being Certified Legal Specialists in Appellate Law, and many have previously served as staff attorneys for various appellate justices. This program is designed for those well-versed in appellate practice, as it delves into intermediate to advanced level topics in appellate law and practice, and assumes attendees already have a foundational understanding of the subject matter.

Hon. Daniel H. Bromberg is co-teaching “How to Analyze Your Opposing Counsel’s Brief” with Michael Colantuono and Mary Lehman on February 27th. You can see the detailed agenda and the rest of the program, and sign up to watch it live or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download here.

Hon. Daniel H. Bromberg has previously taught at several of our past programs, and has helped facilitate our Advanced Appellate programs several times. Justice Bromberg has been very popular amongst attendees, who appreciated his knowledgeable, friendly nature, advice and perspective. These programs and others are available for purchase as a recorded package or OnDemand Streaming here.

Daniel H. Bromberg was appointed to the Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, by Governor Gavin Newsom in January 2023.

From 2019 to 2021, Justice Bromberg served as a Deputy Secretary for Legal Affairs in the Governor’s Office, where he supervised lawyers in the California Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resource Agency, Department of Transportation, and Department of Food and Agriculture. During this period, Justice Bromberg also supervised litigation concerning, among other things, the border wall and COVID-19 restrictions.

Both before and after serving in the Governor’s Office, Justice Bromberg was in private practice. He began his career as an associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York, working primarily on First Amendment matters. He subsequently moved to JonesDay in Washington, D.C., where he became a partner in the appellate practice. In 2005, he moved to California to join Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, where he helped found the appellate practice group and remained until joining the Governor’s Office. After leaving the Governor’s Office, Justice Bromberg joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in San Francisco as the head of the firm’s appellate practice.

Mr. Bromberg graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in history from Yale University and magna cum laude with a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review. He clerked for the Honorable Louis F. Oberdorfer on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit and then for the Honorable A. Raymond Randolph on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Justice Bromberg has taught continuing legal education classes on writing and appellate practice. In addition, in 2021 and 2022, he was a senior research fellow at the California Constitution Center at the Berkeley School of Law. During the same period he was a senior appellate practice fellow in the Center for Litigation and the Courts at UC College of the Law, San Francisco and the founding director of the California Appellate Advocacy Project.

We are so glad to have you back, Justice Bromberg!