California Court of Appeal hears cases at USC Gould
By Maria Iacobo
The 2nd District California Court of Appeal, Division Four, held court yesterday in a USC Gould lecture hall, allowing first-year law students the opportunity to watch lawyers argue their cases before Presiding Justice Norman Epstein, Associate Justice Nora Manella ’75, Associate Justice Thomas Willhite, Jr., and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lee Edmon, who sat pro tem. The law school’s Legal Writing and Advocacy Program sponsored the annual visit.
The visit is timed to take place when students are completing their appellate brief writing assignment and preparing for their oral arguments.
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| Justices Willhite, Manella '75, Epstein and Judge Edmon |
“The California Court of Appeal visit is a wonderful opportunity for our first-year students to see an appellate court in action,” said Elizabeth Carroll, associate professor of Legal Writing and Advocacy and director of the Legal Writing and Advocacy Program. “Students have a chance to see the lessons they are learning about effective appellate advocacy play out in practice as they watch the attorneys argue the cases on calendar.”
Proceedings in appellate courts are very different from those in trial courts where a judge or jury hears the testimony of witnesses and reviews evidence and exhibits before rendering a decision. Appellate courts do not decide an appeal by taking new evidence or reassessing the credibility of witnesses who testified at the trial. Appellate court justices review the written record to determine if the trial court properly interpreted the law and used the correct procedures when considering the case. Appeals are considered by a panel of three justices who are assisted in their review by the parties’ written and oral arguments.
Justice Epstein welcomed the students to court and told them they were going to see “real judges and real lawyers argue cases and controversies.”
The court divided its calendar into three sessions, with two cases heard during each, thus assuring all 1Ls the opportunity to attend. Students in the afternoon session heard attorneys argue cases involving an alleged breach of a contract for legal services and a petition for fees in a probate dispute. After the arguments, students were given the opportunity to ask the judges questions.
“Our students had a rare opportunity to talk with sitting appellate justices about effective advocacy and the appellate process,” Carroll said. “The Court of Appeal’s visit is truly a unique learning experience.”
The cases argued at USC Gould will be decided in the coming weeks and students will learn how each case was resolved.
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