243 sec. 003 - Appellate Advocacy (Fall 2024)
Instructor: Alexandra R Robert-Gordon
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 3
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
W 6:25 PM - 9:05 PM
Location: Law 107
From August 21, 2024
To November 20, 2024
Course End: November 20, 2024
Class Number: 32550
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 11
Waitlisted: 9
Enroll Limit: 12
As of: 04/27 11:57 PM
Appellate Advocacy is designed to further develop the skills learned in Written and Oral Advocacy - writing and presenting oral argument. Appellate Advocacy aims to provide students an experience closely comparable to appellate practice. Students will write a full brief from a shortened record of a case pending in the California Supreme Court or other appellate court. Students will also prepare, practice and deliver a full oral argument. Students will receive advice and guidance from the instructor and from Practitioner-Advisors who are among the best appellate practitioners in the Bay Area.
The course is graded, with the brief counting as 75% of the grade and oral argument as 25% of the grade. The grade awarded will also reflect the quality and timeliness of interim assignments.
Because this class requires efforts on the part of so many parties - including Practitioner-Advisors, volunteer judges, and opposing counsel - no student will be permitted to drop the class, without an extraordinary reason, after the first week of instruction.
This class requires completion of an introductory Legal Research and Writing course and is therefore open only to rising second and third-year JD students.
Appellate Advocacy may not be offered in the Spring semester.
Alexandra Robert Gordon has been a Judge on the San Francisco Superior Court since 2018. Prior to her appointment, she served for nearly a decade as a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice. As a member of the Government Law Section, she represented California’s constitutional officers in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Judge Gordon handled many high-profile cases from the trial court to the United States Supreme Court, including challenges to California’s law prohibiting the possession of large-capacity magazines, banning possession of shark fin, and requiring the disclosure of major donor information by charitable organizations. She received a California Lawyer of the Year Award in 2014 for her work defending the constitutionality of a law that prohibits mental health professionals from engaging in treatments intended to change the sexual orientation of a minor. Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Judge Gordon was a supervisor and staff attorney at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Since her appointment to the Superior Court, Judge Gordon has presided over the felony arraignment calendar, criminal trials, preliminary hearings, and criminal domestic violence court. Since 2022, she has presided over felony trials.
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
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Requirements Satisfaction:
This class fulfills Option 2 of the J.D. writing requirement for all students in the course. All students must write 30 pages and complete a draft. |
Exam Notes: (P) Final paper
Course Category: Simulation Courses
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Litigation and Procedure
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Books:
Instructor has indicated that no books will be assigned.