243 sec. 002 - Appellate Advocacy (Fall 2026)
Instructor: Scotia J Hicks (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 3
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person Instruction
Meeting:
TuTh 11:20 AM - 12:35 PM
Location: Law 136
From August 18, 2026
To November 19, 2026
Course End: November 19, 2026
Class Number: 32512
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 11
Waitlisted: 8
Enroll Limit: 12
As of: 05/25 10:01 PM
Appellate Advocacy is designed to further develop the skills JD students learned in Written and Oral Advocacy - writing and presenting oral argument. Appellate Advocacy aims to provide students with 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 will not be offered in the Spring semester.
Scotia Hicks has practiced as an attorney for 19 years. As an appellate attorney, she has represented clients before state and federal courts of appeal, the California and Ohio Supreme Courts, and the United States Supreme Court. Prior to focusing on appeals, she practiced litigation at a large law firm, where she specialized in complex commercial litigation and white collar investigations.
Dr. Hicks received a B.A., with high honors, in Psychology and East Asian Languages (Japanese) in 1996 from the University of California, Berkeley. She received a M.A. in 2002 and a Ph.D. in Psychology in 2004 from the University of Arizona, where her primary area of research was Criminal Profiling. Dr. Hicks is a 2007 graduate of Berkeley Law, where she was a Notes & Comments Editor for the California Law Review, and a member of the Asian American Law Journal. She was also the Appellate Advocacy Director for the Moot Court Board (now BOA), a national finalist on the National Moot Court Competition team, and a semi-finalist and Best Brief award winner in the McBaine Moot Court Competition.
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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
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: Simulation Courses
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Litigation and Procedure
If you are the instructor or their FSU, you may add a file like a syllabus or a first assignment.
Class materials may also be available on bCourses.berkeley.edu
Readers:
No reader.
Books:
Instructor has indicated that no books will be assigned.