Major Changes in the 22nd Edition:The 22nd edition of The Bluebook, released at the end of May, 2025, is the most substantial change to legal citation in at least a decade. While previous editions always attempted to keep
Benjamin G. Shatz
* California State Bar Certified Appellate Law Specialist
* Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers
* Member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers
* Ranked by Chambers USA for California Appellate Litigation
* Named in Best Lawyers in America for appellate practice
* Editor-in-Chief, California Litigation journal
* Trustee At-Large, L.A. County Bar Assn.
* Ninth Circuit Advisory Committee on Rules & Internal Operating Procedures (2017–20)
* Chair, LACBA State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee (2013–19)
* Chair, Cal. State Bar Committee on Appellate Courts (2010–11)
* Cal. Lawyers Assn., Litigation Section ExCom Advisor (2013—)
* Chair, LACBA Appellate Courts Committee (2009–11)
* Expert witness in appellate and anti-SLAPP fees matters
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AI oral arg / "fun" opinions
Law360 has:Top Supreme Court Atty Touts AI Version Of Own ArgumentYou’re not hallucinating — a tech-savvy U.S. Supreme Court advocate generated a near-facsimile of his voice, had an artificial intelligence chatbot use it to argue the same case…
5th DCA retirements
The Former Justices page for the 5th District now shows that Justices M. Bruce Smith and Charles S. Poochigian have retired this year.
SCOTUS term-end articles
Votes Suggest Chief Justice Regains Control of ‘Roberts Court’Chief Justice John Roberts was most often in the majority this term, dissenting in just two of the 58 argued cases that the US Supreme Court decided and leaving much…
9th Cir. computers down
July 3, 2025 9th Circuit AnnouncementDue to a nationwide technical issue on July 3, 2025, the Ninth Circuit’s case management systems are unavailable. This effects both CM/ECF and ACMS. The Administrative Office of the Courts is actively working on…
Elbows in dissent
Law360 has The Sharpest Dissents From The Supreme Court TermThis term’s sharpest dissents often looked beyond perceived flaws in majority reasoning to raise existential concerns about the role of the justices and lament the future of the U.S. Supreme…
End of Term stats
The Wall St. Journal has Justice Kagan Won 70% of the Time – Thomas and Alito had the majority in only 62% of non-unanimous cases.Here’s a figure that might surprise: Justice Elena Kagan, the Supreme Court’s leading liberal, was in the…
