Second District Resources

The Second District requires that an attorney provide his/her email address and State Bar number on every brief and document filed with the Court of Appeal. (Rule 8.40(c))

Please find Court of Appeal approved forms for filing requests for extensions of time, proposed augment orders, Local Rules 1-9, and other resources.

Rule 8.407 sets forth the contents of the normal record in a dependency appeal. If a portion of the normal record has been omitted, file a letter request for correction of the record in the juvenile court, with a copy of that request in the Court of Appeal.

Record correction letters pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 8.410 (a), may be emailed to that juvenile court through the email address juvenileappeals@lacourt.org; this address must not be used for anything but the rule 8.410 (a) letters and may not be used for TrueFiling.

Sample Correction Letter and Sample Correction Notice is available on the Samples Page.

If additional record material is necessary that is not listed in Rule 8.407, file a motion to augment the record in the Court of Appeal, including a proposed order. (Rule 8.410(b) or 8.416(d), Local Rule 4. Attach a copy of the requested document(s) if available. (Local Rule 2(c)) Request an extension of time at the same time, if necessary.

In an appeal from an order terminating parental rights, a record correction request and/or a motion to augment must be filed within 15 days after the original record is received. Rule 8.416(d)(2).

When a party who has already appealed from findings and orders in the dependency proceedings then files another appeal in the same case, the transcripts prepared for the new appeal will be a “balance of record.” That balance of record will be automatically augmented with the record filed in the prior appeal(s). (Local Rule 9.)

Records in dependency cases in most counties served by the Second Appellate District are digital. In those counties, the Superior Court will not prepare a physical copy of the record. CAP LA will not receive or have access to any physical copy of any dependency record. Attorneys are required to send a copy of the record to the client for cases in which the attorney has filed a brief pursuant to In re Phoenix H. We recommend following this three-step process:

• Attempt to secure an email address from your client and send the record to the client electronically.
• If the client does not have an email address, but can receive an electronic file, copy the record onto an inexpensive thumb drive and send to the client by US Mail.
• If the client is unable to receive an electronic file, you can print the record and mail it to the client. Include a note in the claim about this issue. The actual cost of printing and mailing the record will be reimbursed; time spent printing the record can only be claimed under administrative time.

To protect the anonymity of juveniles involved in juvenile court proceedings, in all documents, a juvenile must be referred to by first name and last initial; but if the first name is unusual or other circumstances would cause the use of the first name to defeat the objective of anonymity, both the first and last initials of the juvenile may be used. (Rule 8.401.)

If you are representing a party other than the parent, child or guardian, the confidential record used by an appellate attorney must not be provided to the appellant(s), even at the conclusion of the appeal. (Rule 5.552(b)(1)(F).)

The following agreement/understanding was reached with County Counsel in early 2022 in an effort to curtail the number of appeals from judgment stemming from changes in the notice provisions of the ICWA under California law. In all matters that are not “fast track”/”TPR” appeals, and where the only arguable issue identified an ICWA issue based on the failure to discharge the initial duty of inquiry under WIC section 224.2,subdivision (b), resolution of this compliance issue via an attorney order in the juvenile court is the appropriate means to informally resolve the issue outside the contents of Appellant’s Opening Brief. Where a violation of the inquiry provisions of the ICWA is the only identified issue and the appeal is not from  termination of parental rights,  counsel must contact Thomas Finley at the Office of the County Counsel at (213) 808-8760 or at TFinley@counsel.lacounty.gov to attempt to resolve the matter with the execution of the attorney order to be filed in the juvenile court. Once the attorney order for compliance with the initial duty of inquiry is filed in the juvenile court, then counsel should file in the Court of Appeal a request for judicial notice of the order, concurrently with the filing of a respective Phoenix H. brief. Informal resolution of a matter concerning the notice provisions of the ICWA does not alleviate the Phoenix H. assessment by CAP-LA staff and the case should still be submitted for review to the appropriate staff attorney.