About SDAP
SDAP is a law firm that does criminal and juvenile appeals for indigent clients in the San Jose area. We are not the court of appeal.

Signatures No Longer Required in 6DCA
The original rule that documents filed in the Sixth District through TrueFiling must include a real signature has been repealed. Now an electronic signature is sufficient, but counsel must retain a signed original. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.75(a).)

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New TrueFiling Rules for Supreme Court
Rules concerning TrueFiling in the California Supreme Court have been amended to include petitions for writ of habeas corpus and any informal response or reply.

RULE OF COURT

Panel Attorneys Need to Retain Records of Costs
The Judicial Council has told the projects that panel attorneys must retain documentation for claimed expenses. Documentation includes, but is not limited to, invoices, receipts, copying and mileage logs, and other records that support claims for expenses. Although documentation need not be submitted with a fee claim, the project may request documentation with regard to expenses that appear to be out of the ordiniary. The burden of proof rests with appointed counsel to substantiate the claim. For tax purposes, the California Franchise Tax Board suggests keeping such documentation for at least seven years, which would also cover audits of the California Appellate Court Appointed Counsel (CAC) Program.

2018 SDAP Seminar Material Available
Material from the 2018 SDAP Seminar is now available.

SEMINAR MATERIAL

Mandatory Form for Augment Motions
Starting November 13, 2017, the Sixth District Court of Appeal will require the use of a form proposed order for all motions to augment the record. Until then, the form is voluntary. The pdf fillable proposed order must be used in civil appeals as well. Reportedly, there have been problems with how attorneys have filled out the form.

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FORM PROPOSED ORDER

Electronical Filing Required at U.S. S.Ct.
Counsel is required to submit an electronic version of papers filed in the United Supreme Court. This process is different from TrueFiling and the system used in the lower federal courts. Because it can take a few days or a week for enrollment in electronic filing to be approved, counsel is urged to apply well in advance of any deadline for filing a document.

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