I’m a local boy, born and bred in California, and graduating from the University of California at Berkeley (both undergrad and law school).

I did well in law school – well enough to land a clerkship with a California Supreme Court Justice (Ray Peters). That gave me an inside look at how an appellate court works and was a great foundation for my legal experience. And drafting important opinions that set the law for the whole state was a heady experience for a young lawyer.

After that, I directed an office that represented farm workers, and then a program that helped low-income tenants – at trial and on appeal. Then I became a law professor, and my interest in appellate work intensified.

As a law professor, I enjoy employing my teaching experience to instruct law students on Constitutional Law, Evidence, Contracts, and other courses. I teach not just content, but strategy, using complex problems I’ve written to give students the feeling of representing clients with real world issues. I keep my own hand in the real world too – I love to practice law, both in trial court and appellate courts.

I’ve handled a lot of appeals, many of which resulted in published cases. I seem to have a knack for it, because my win-loss record is pretty good. I usually represent the appellant (the side that lost at trial). The appellant usually loses on appeal – only about 20% of civil appeals are successful. But my success rate in published cases is around 80%. (I haven’t kept track of my success rate in unpublished cases, but I know it’s well over 20%.)

To teach other lawyers and law students how to win appeals, it’s not good enough simply to show them what I did in my cases. I had to figure out how I did it. What principles underlie a good brief? What common themes are likely to result in victory? By carefully examining these questions, I was able to write a book about it: Winning An Appeal (Lexis), now in its fourth edition and used by lawyers and law students throughout the country. From there, I developed a special course for law students — Advanced Appellate Practice — and contributed to a number of other publications.

I set up a new program at the law school: Moot Court for Lawyers. From all over the state, lawyers with cases pending in the California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and even the U.S. Supreme Court come to my program every week to practice arguing their cases in front of a panel of “Justices” I recruit. The panel usually includes me, some retired judges, and some lawyers who specialize in the area of law at issue. Examining the briefs, questioning the lawyers, listening to my fellow “Justices”, and playing at being an appellate justice myself every week gives me further insights into what motivates appellate judges to rule the way they do.

I’ve been invited to teach practicing lawyers throughout the state on “How to Win Appeals & Writs”, at programs sponsored by California Continuing Education of Bar, Hastings Center for Trial and Appellate Advocacy, Calif. State Public Defender, and many County Bar Associations (San Francisco, Contra Costa, Sacramento, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Fresno, and Solano). I’ve enjoyed this a lot, and the feedback from the lawyers was very positive, so I decided to set up my own program.

My Writing to Win seminar focuses not on grammar and vocabulary, but on strategy – how to think about presenting a case to an appellate court. It’s a new approach, designed to bring out the creative spirit lurking in the heart of every advocate. It makes the practice of law more fun – and more victorious.