Persuasive Appellate Brief Writing (CA) [Two-Part Webinar] (Watch Live or via OnDemand Streaming)

Agenda

Part 1: Tuesday, August 19, 2025
1:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Pacific Time
(Including Breaks)
Two-Part Webinar

1:00 p.m. – 1:20 p.m.
Being Aware of the Audience for the Submission
Beth Jay and Justice Michael Raphael

• Motions for Discretionary Review
• Petitions for Review
• Motions for Reconsideration/Publication

1:20 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.
Selecting the Issues on Appeal
Beth Jay and Justice Michael Raphael

• Not all issues raised in the trial court can, or should, be argued on appeal
• How should counsel select the issues?
• Creating your Checklist

1:50 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Break (10 minutes)

2:00 p.m. – 3:20 p.m.
Building Blocks to an Effective Appellate Pleading
Michael Colantuono, John Stobart and Judge Helen Williams

• Persuasive (and efficient!) analysis structure
  • How do you want our analysis to go?
  • CREAC/IREAC
  • Common mistakes brief writers make in the “explanation of the rule” and “application” portions of the analysis
  • How to efficiently address counter-arguments
  • Rule format requirements/court best practices

3:20 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Break (10 minutes) 

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Convincing the Court to Want to Rule in Your Favor
Justice John Segal and Ben Shatz

• Using fundamental principles as persuasive tools—yet another checklist
• The hard part: Tips for predicting what concerns judges might have with your argument and then addressing those concerns
• A strong first impression: Roadmap for an effective introduction

4:40 – 4:45 p.m.
Writing Exercises to be assigned and explained to attendees, to turn in by the end of day tomorrow

Part 2: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
1:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Pacific Time
(Including Breaks)

During Part 2, your faculty will walk through a sample of the exercises submitted in advance by the attorneys attending the program. They will also provide their own samples. They will ask questions of the attendees, who will be able to answer orally or via the q/a bot.  Your faculty will also do a demonstration of how AI can be used, and should not be used, when drafting an appellate brief and how the courts are, or are not, using AI.

Topics covered in exercises will include:

• Case highlights and issues
• Ideal Introduction and review pre-submitted exercises from attendees
• Argument Headings
• Argument
  • Standard and Scope of Review
  • Citing and Using Authority
  • Persuasive and Unpersuasive Arguments

• Drafting the Conclusion
• Reply Briefs
• Final Writing Tips
• Final Questions

Date/Time/Location

Two- Part Webinar

Dates:
Part 1: Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Part 2: Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Times for both sessions:
1:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Pacific Time

We will send your Zoom login details and handout materials about a week before your program.

Testimonials

“Very instructive program. Presenting the rules of effective appellate writing in one session and then applying these rules to real-life cases in the next was an efficient and productive strategy.” – Iryna Kwasny, Esq.

“Practical advice, useful in practice, and speakers with expertise.” – Yana Ridge, Esq.

“Great presentation!” – John T. Sylvester, Esq.

“Well worth the time and money.” –  Nancy Rabin Brucke, Esq.

“Excellent help.” – David Park, Esq.

“Very good.” – Nadin Said, Esq.

“Very clear and lots of good ideas conveyed.” – James Lemieux, Esq.

“I thought Justice Banke and Mr. Wolff were both excellent.”

“Excellent, concrete, and actionable advice from highly experienced speakers. Great program.”

“Excellent content and advice on practical application.”

“Great content; enjoyed the speakers.”

“Excellent feedback for litigation.  Very helpful.”

“I thought it was great and the written materials are helpful.”

“It was fantastic. I loved that it was interactive and that we got to do some practical writing exercises.”

“This was a very good program.  All the speakers had valuable advice to give from diverse viewpoints.”

“This was excellent – I learned a lot. I loved hearing from appellate practitioners and justices about what makes or breaks a brief.”

“PDF outline was super helpful.”

“Justice Banke was great and super informative about a justice’s view of an appellate brief.”

“Great program.”

“Very good and helpful.” – Nancy Rabin Brucker, Esq.

“Interactive portion of this training was excellent.”

“Very good program and effective speakers.”

“Useful tips, experienced speakers.” – Yana Ridge, Esq.

“Very good, organized, and timely.”

“Excellent program.”

“I thought it was great!”

“Very good. The speakers were interesting and informative.”

“Loved the interactive portion.”

“This program is excellent!  Although each presenter and Justice has their own preferences for brief structure, it is an opportunity to add their preferences to my repertoire. They are the experts and those I wish to convince.  What an awesome resource!”

“Really good discussion – lots of real-world examples and great exercises.”

Faculty

Hon. Shama Hakim Mesiwala
Justice
California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District,

Justice Mesiwala devoted her legal career to public service.  She represented indigent criminal defendants at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Sacramento and the Central California Appellate Program, where she argued cases before the California Supreme Court and California Courts of Appeal.

Justice Mesiwala then transitioned to working for the judiciary. She was a central staff attorney at the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District for one and a half years, followed by a chamber’s attorney for Justice Ronald B. Robie for 11 years. She was appointed commissioner in 2017 and 10 months later, judge of the Sacramento County Superior Court. In her six years on the trial court, Justice Mesiwala presided over criminal jury trials, civil jury trials, civil bench trials, civil law and motion, civil settlement conferences, preliminary hearings, juvenile dependency, drug court, mental health hospital hearings, state hospital hearings, civil harassment restraining order hearings, collaborative courts, and small claims. She created Northern California’s first Indian Child Welfare Act courtroom. And she served as the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) judge for the Hall of Justice.

On Valentine’s Day 2023, Justice Mesiwala was unanimously confirmed as an associate justice on the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, having been nominated by Governor Gavin Newsom. She was rated exceptionally well qualified, the highest rating given by the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE).

Shama Hakim Mesiwala is a native Californian, born in Stanford in 1974 and raised in Cupertino among the fruit orchards and burgeoning technology industries of Silicon Valley. Her father immigrated from Mumbai, India in the 1960’s for educational opportunities and freedoms found only in America. She attended all public schools, graduating from UC San Diego magna cum laude in three years. She started law school at UC Davis King Hall at age 20 and graduated in 1998.

Justice Mesiwala is active in the community. She has been professor of Appellate Advocacy to over 700 students at UC Davis Law School for the past eleven years; president of the Schwartz/Levi American Inn of Court; cofounder of the South Asian Bar Association of Sacramento and host of its annual Diversity Law Student Reception for 16 years; and member of the California Supreme Court Ethics Opinion Committee.

For her community service, Justice Mesiwala has received the UC Davis Law School’s pro bono certificate, the Unity Bar community service award, the Women Lawyers of Sacramento Frances Newell Carr award, the King Hall Legal Foundation’s judge of the year award, the ally award from Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ bar association SacLegal, the president’s award from the Asian Bar Association of Sacramento, and named a Sacramento Bee top 25 Asian American/Pacific Islander change maker.

Hon. Michael J. Raphael
Associate Justice
California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Two

Justice Raphael is the fourth generation of his family to live in Southern California, though he is the first lawyer or judge.  Justice Raphael graduated in 1990 from Rice University and in 1993 from Yale Law School, where he was a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal and an editor of the Yale Journal of Law & Policy.

Justice Raphael began his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  Justice Raphael then practiced as a trial and appellate litigator in the Washington D.C. office of a national law firm.

Justice Raphael next worked as an investigative counsel for the Government Reform Committee of the United States House of Representatives, handling the investigation of campaign fundraising that arose from the 1996 Presidential election.  During that time, Justice Raphael also taught writing and advocacy courses as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University School of Law.

In 1999, Justice Raphael returned to the Los Angeles area and spent over twelve years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California, prosecuting over 60 federal felony cases in trial court.  Justice Raphael also was appointed as special counsel in the Northern District of California (San Francisco) and successfully investigated and prosecuted the illegal leak of grand jury testimony provided by Barry Bonds and other athletes in the course of a government investigation of steroids in sports.

As an AUSA, 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.

While on the trial and appellate bench, Justice Raphael has authored several dozen articles in legal publications, has taught several judicial education courses, and has spoken frequently at legal education events for attorneys.

Hon. John L. Segal
Justice
California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Seven

Justice Segal has served as an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal since 2015.

In 2000 Justice Segal was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, where he served as a trial judge until 2015 and presided over civil and criminal cases. His assignments on the Superior Court included 12 years in unlimited civil individual calendar courts in the Stanley Mosk, Santa Monica, and West Los Angeles courthouses. He also served as a justice pro tem in the Court of Appeal from January 2010 to June 2010, August 2012 to March 2013, and May 2013 to December 2014.

In May 2015 Justice Segal was nominated to the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Seven. The Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed his nomination in July 2015.

Justice Segal is actively involved in state and local bar associations. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Section of Litigation of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Board of Governors of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, and as an advisor to the Executive Committee of the Litigation Section of the State Bar of California. He is participates in the Los Angeles County Bar Association Litigation Trial Practice Inn of Court and the Beverly Hills Bar Association Southern California Business Litigation Inn of Court.

Justice Segal was born and raised in Los Angeles. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Williams College in 1982, and his law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1987. After law school he served as a law clerk for Judge Robert S. Vance of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 1987 to 1988. He was an associate from 1988 to 1995, and then a partner from 1995 to 2000, with the law firm of Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp, where he helped run the Appellate Practice Group.

Justice Segal is married to Chief United States Magistrate Judge Suzanne H. Segal of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. They have two adult children. Justice Segal teaches Remedies at the University of Southern California School of Law, sings tenor in a congregational choir, and plays third base for his softball team.

Hon. Helen E. Williams
Judge
Superior Court of California, Santa Clara County

Judge Helen E. Williams was appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court in 2012. She has sat in unlimited civil and criminal assignments, served as the court’s designated CEQA judge, and has served for nine years on the court’s Appellate Division, eight of those as its Presiding Judge. In 2022-2023, Judge Williams sat on assignment as a pro tem justice at the Sixth District Court of Appeal, authoring her own opinions without research assistance. Before joining the bench, Judge Williams, who is certified as an appellate specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, worked in chambers for eight years as a research attorney at the Sixth District Court of Appeal, focusing on civil and criminal cases and drafting opinions in those cases for the authoring justice. Before that, Judge Williams engaged in civil practice for 18 years beginning with a small litigation firm with her father and moving to larger firms with increasing focus on appellate specialization and dispositive motions such as summary judgment and anti-SLAPP, along with post-trial motions and other trial matters such as critical in limine motions and jury instructions. 

Judge Williams currently serves as a member of the Judicial Council of California’s Appellate Advisory Committee and previously served as a member of the Center for Judicial Education & Research’s Appellate Practice Curriculum Committee. She also served for six years on the State Bar of California’s Standing Committee on Appellate Courts, including terms as its vice-chair and chair. She further served for five years on the State Bar of California’s Board of Legal Specialization Appellate Law Advisory Committee, including terms as its vice-chair and chair. Judge Williams also served as the vice-chair and chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Appellate Courts Section and as co-chair of the Appellate Court’s Committee of the Santa Clara County Bar Association. Judge Williams also currently serves as President Elect of the William Ingram Inn of Court, of which she has been a member for many years, and she is a member of the Board of Editors of the California Litigation Journal, now a publication of the California Lawyers Association Litigation Section. Judge Williams has served on panels for scores of MCLE and judicial education programs, principally on appellate topics. 

Judge Williams received her Bachelor of Arts degree in French Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She earned her law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law, and is one of four members of that School’s class of 1986 to serve on the Santa Clara Superior Court bench. While in law school, Judge Williams served as an Articles Editor for the Santa Clara Law Review and, along with her brother, received the Moot Court award for Best Brief.

Michael G. Colantuono, Esq.
Partner, Certified Legal Specialist in Appellate Law
Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC

Michael G. Colantuono is a shareholder in Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, a municipal law firm with offices in Pasadena and Grass Valley. Chief Justice Ronald M. George presented him with the 2010 Public Lawyer of the Year award on behalf of the California State Bar Association. The Los Angeles Daily Journal named him one of “California’s Top Municipal Lawyers” every year since its list began in 2011. The Supreme Court appointed him the first Chair of the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California; he was previously President of the Bar. The State Bar has certified him as an Appellate Specialist and he is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, a prestigious association of fewer than 100 of California’s most distinguished appellate advocates.

Michael is one of California’s leading experts on municipal revenues and has appeared in all six Courts of Appeal in California. In addition, he has argued nine public finance cases in the California Supreme Court since 2004 and briefed two others.

Michael is City Attorney of Auburn and Grass Valley and general counsel of a number of LAFCOs and special districts and previously served six other cities and many special districts. He serves as special counsel to counties, cities and special districts around California.

Michael served as President of the City Attorneys Department of the League of California Cities in 2003–2004 and established its first Ethics Committee.

He served on the Commission on Local Governance in the 21st Century, the recommendations of which led to substantial revisions of the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act. Michael is General Counsel of the Calaveras and San Diego LAFCOs and serves as outside counsel to several other LAFCOs.

Michael graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in Government and received his law degree from the Boalt Hall School of Law of the University of California at Berkeley.

He frequently posts comments on local government and municipal finance topics to Twitter ( @MColantuono ) and LinkedIn ( Michael Colantuono ).

Polly J. Estes, Esq.
Managing Partner
Estes Law Group

With 29 years of experience in state and federal courts, Polly has successfully tried numerous bench and jury trials in such diverse areas as class actions, freedom of speech and freedom of religion, securities fraud, tax regulation, riparian rights, eminent domain, professional liability, and high-dollar insurance bad faith.  But it is in the appellate arena where Polly really shines.  She has spent 15 years of her career working for state and federal appellate courts, where she helped judges evaluate the merits of more than 500 civil, criminal, and administrative appeals.  On a daily basis, Polly defended her analysis through oral presentations, extensive memoranda and proposed dispositions, often working under intense time pressure.  After debating the merits of cases with judges at all levels of the judiciary for more than two decades, Polly knows how to persuade both judges and juries successfully.  She knows how judges think, what questions they want answered, and the time constraints they face.  

Polly’s expertise has been recognized by the California State Bar.  She is Board Certified as an expert in Appellate Law.

Before starting Estes Law Group, Polly served as the Chief Law Clerk to the Honorable Carlos T. Bea on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for eight years.  As Judge Bea’s Chief Law Clerk, Polly supervised and trained the other law clerks and externs, a position she loved because it was essentially “teaching the best law school class ever.”  She was also the chief editor and “problem solver,” often called in to help the Judge and other clerks think through complex problems.  She also helped evaluate cases for en banc calls and wrote speeches for the judge, all while handling a full load of cases herself.

While at the Ninth Circuit, Polly participated in all aspects of the appellate process, including drafting bench and en banc memoranda, opinions, dissents, orders, and memorandum dispositions.  These cases spanned all areas of federal law, including securities fraud, antitrust, class actions, environmental, social security, and immigration, to name just a few.  She also handled several state law areas through diversity jurisdiction, such as insurance law and contracts.

Polly also served as a staff attorney in the Motions Unit at the Ninth Circuit for more than three years, a position which allowed her to work with each of the judges on the court.  As a motions attorney, Polly orally presented dozens of cases each month to a panel of three judges, explaining the case and the proposed disposition she had drafted.  She handled emergency motions, which often required her to call judges at home after hours so they could work through the emergency together on an expedited basis.  This position gave the judges on the court an opportunity to get to know Polly and to know how her mind works.  It also gave Polly a vast amount of experience in presenting cases to the judges.  She is therefore comfortable in oral arguments, which gives her a strong advantage over opposing counsel.

Polly also has state court experience, having served as a briefing attorney to The Honorable Catherine Stone at the Texas Court of Appeals for the Fourth Judicial District, and as an extern to The Honorable Lloyd Doggett at the Texas Supreme Court.

In addition to working for courts, Polly worked for six years for two prominent national law firms—Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons).  While at these firms, Polly handled a number of trials and appeals, most notably high-exposure bad faith insurance trials and appeals for State Farm, USAA, and Allstate.  She was often brought in to handle the appeal when another firm lost at trial.  Polly won each of these appeals.

Polly has extensive experience writing amicus curiae briefs in courts around the country to help shape the law that affected the firm’s clients.  Polly kept an eye on cases throughout the country and when one presented the appropriate facts, she brought it to her client’s attention and then wrote an amicus curiae brief on their behalf to assure the law developed in their favor.

Polly worked her way through college and law school.  She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Colorado cum laude, with a double major in Marketing and International Business, and a minor in International Economics.  She received many honors during her time there, including Phi Beta Kappa and the Golden Key Honor Society.  She earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas at Austin, where she served as an editor on the Texas International Law Journal and a recipient of the Robert S. Strauss Presidential Scholarship.  She studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the University of London through Duke’s study abroad program.

Polly is admitted to practice in California (2000), Texas (1993), the Northern District of California, the Western District of Texas, the Ninth Circuit, and the Fifth Circuit.  She is a member of the San Francisco, Fifth Circuit, and Ninth Circuit Bar Associations, and the Texas State Bar College.

Polly’s publications include:  A Legal Theory of the Use of Experts in Insurance Claim Adjustment, Vol. 23 No. 5 Ins. Litig. Rep. 140 (2001);  Preservation of Error:  Filing a Lawsuit Through Presentation of Evidence, 30 St. Mary’s L.J. 997 (1999);  Homeowner’s Insurance:  Coverage and Liability, Texas State Bar’s Advanced Ins. Law Course (1997);  Handling Extra-Contractual Claims (Defense Perspective), U.T. Ins. Law Inst. (1996).

Adam W. Hofmann, Esq.
Deputy Judicial Appointments Secretary
Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom

Adam serves in the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom as the Deputy Judicial Appointments Secretary, supporting the work of Judicial Appointments Secretary Luis Céspedes.Adam is an Appellate Specialist, certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization.

Previously, Adam served as the Co-Chair of Hanson Bridgett’s appellate practice group. He represented both public and private clients in civil writs, appeals, and mandate proceedings. He has briefed and argued cases in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and every District Court of Appeal in California and has filed merits briefs in two U.S. Supreme Court cases.

His practice focused on representing cities, counties, and special districts in writs and appeals relating especially relating to public finance and revenue measures, as well as land use, civil rights, employee benefits, labor standards, and election law. He has represented water districts and cities in a range of disputes regarding rates, fees, and charges, including work on some of the leading cases interpreting related provisions of the California Constitution, including the California Supreme Court’s decisions in Jacks v. City of Santa Barbara and City of San Buenaventura v. United Water Conservation District.

Outside of the office, Adam has coached regionally and nationally competitive moot-court teams at UC Davis School of Law. He also speaks and writes on questions of local government authority and policy under the California Constitution and is an adjunct professor who taught courses in local government and land use law at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Prior to joining Hanson Bridgett, Adam was also an extern in the chambers of the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins.

Beth J. Jay, Esq.
Of Counsel
Horvitz & Levy LLP

Beth J. Jay brings more than 35 years of experience at the California Supreme Court to her role providing analysis and strategy in complex appellate matters, particularly petitions for review to California’s high court. 

After working for two associate justices as a research attorney, she served as Principal Attorney to three California Chief Justices, during the full terms of Chief Justices Malcolm M. Lucas and Ronald M. George, and from the beginning of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye’s term in January 2011 until Beth fully retired from the court in 2015. Beth participated in the decision-making work of the court, drafting memoranda and opinions in cases in which review had been granted, consulting with and editing the work of other attorneys, and analyzing petitions seeking the court’s review.

Beth led and participated in numerous Supreme Court, Judicial Council, and State Bar Committees focusing on diverse issues including multi-jurisdictional practice, insurance legislation, judicial and attorney ethics, and court procedures. She also consulted with judicial system, executive branch, and legislative personnel on various legislative initiatives.

Since joining the firm in 2019, Beth has focused on analyzing and providing strategy for petitions for review to the California Supreme Court, and on structuring and editing briefs and motions at all appellate levels. She also serves on panels for moot courts for attorneys from Horvitz & Levy and other firms. Her in-depth experience with cases before the appellate courts has provided her with effective tools for assisting counsel in preparing for oral argument as well as in developing compelling and thorough briefing.

Beth has served as president of one of the oldest Inns of Courts in California and was selected by the District Court for the Northern District of California to serve as an attorney delegate to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. She received the State Bar’s highest honor, the Witkin Medal, awarded to an attorney “who has helped shape the legal landscape through an extraordinary body of work,” as well as One Justice’s Access to Justice Award.

Benjamin G. Shatz, Esq.
Partner, Certified Legal Specialist in Appellate Law
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Ben Shatz is a certified specialist in appellate law who has briefed hundreds of civil appeals, writs and petitions in state and federal courts covering areas of law including employment, entertainment, copyright, trademark, land use, banking, insurance, product liability, professional liability, wrongful death, punitive damages, class actions, anti-SLAPP and unfair competition. Before private practice he served as law clerk to Robert J. Johnston, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Nevada, and as extern to Dorothy W. Nelson, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Ben is Editor-in-Chief of California Litigation, the journal of the State Bar’s Litigation Section, chairs the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s State Appellate Judicial Evaluations Committee and serves on the executive committee of LACBA’s Appellate Courts Section. He is a past Chair of the State Bar Committee on Appellate Courts and the LACBA Appellate Courts Committee.

Since 2005, Ben has coordinated lawyer volunteers for the ACE (Appellate Court Experience) program, in which high school students visit the Second District Court of Appeal, for which he was honored as Lawyer of the Year (Private Sector 2008) by the Constitutional Rights Foundation. He has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer in Appellate Practice (2004-2015); listed in Best Lawyers in America for appellate practice (2012-2015); and is AV-Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Ben is a frequent lecturer and publisher of articles on appellate practice, is an editorial consultant for the Matthew Bender Practice Guide on California Civil Appeals & Writs, and blogs at Southern California Appellate News (http://socal-appellate.blogspot.com).

John Stobart, Esq.
Senior Counsel
Capstone Law APC

John Stobart is a senior counsel with Capstone Law. His practice focuses on representing employees and consumers in complex litigation, primarily wage-and-hour class actions and PAGA representative actions. He has significant complex and long-cause trial experience gained through an entire career dedicated to litigation. John is also a Certified Specialist in Appellate Law, as designated by the State Bar of California, and has extensive experience, having drafted over two dozen writs, petitions, and appeals. His appellate experience includes amicus work in the California Supreme Court on behalf of Bet Tzedek on Kim v. Reins, 9 Cal.5th 73, and the 2019 Daily Journal Reversal of the Year Award for his work in the Ninth Circuit on Nguyen v. Nissan N.A., No. 18-16344 (9th Cir. 2019).

Prior to joining Capstone, John defended against civil liability in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases brought against his clients, which included the railroad, public schools, small businesses, and commercial and residential landowners. He has drafted and argued scores of dispositive motions at the trial court level and had success in upholding judgments and verdicts on appeal. He graduated cum laude from Thomas Jefferson School of Law where he was on the mock trial competition team and earned his undergraduate degree from the Ohio State University.

John is admitted to practice law in California and before the United States District Court for the Eastern, Central, and Southern Districts of California and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third and Ninth Circuits.

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CLE Credits

CA General:  This program is approved for 7.00 units of general CLE in California.

CA Participatory Certified Legal Specialist:   This program is approved for 7.00 units of Certified Legal Specialist CLE in California in Appellate Law.   (Expires 08/18/2027)

CA Self Study (only) Certified Legal Specialist:   This program is approved for 7.00 units of Certified Legal Specialist CLE in California in Appellate Law.   (Expires 08/18/2030)

NY General: This course is eligible for approval, under New York’s CLE Approved Jurisdiction policy, for 7.00 CLE units. Pincus Professional Education is a CA Accredited Provider, which is a NY approved jurisdiction. See Section 6 of the New York State CLE Board Regulations and Guidelines for further information.

This program is approved for CLE in the states listed above.  Upon request, Pincus Pro Ed will provide any information an attorney needs to support their application for CLE approval in other states other than what is listed above. Many attorneys ask for this and are approved in other state