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Principles of Appellate Advocacy, Third Edition

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Authors
  • Daniel P. Selmi
  • Rebecca Delfino
Series / Aspen Coursebook Series
BOOKMARK
Book length
282 pages
Publication Date
2026-02-02
Edition
Third Edition
Description
Table of contents

Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook on Casebook Connect, including academic lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities. Access also includes an outline tool and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes.



The proven-effective approach of Principles of Appellate Advocacy, Third Edition, by Daniel P. Selmi and Rebecca A. Delfino, gives students a precise understanding of the fundamental principles and well-defined rules that are essential to drafting a persuasive appellate brief and making an effective oral argument before appellate courts. The authors draw from a wealth of experience briefing and arguing appellate cases, teaching Appellate Advocacy, and coaching winning moot court teams. 

The Third Edition introduces a unifying theme on the responsible use of generative AI in appellate advocacy, helping students harness these tools while preserving human reasoning, credibility, and care. The authors explore both the benefits of AI-assisted brief writing and its ethical challenges under modern professional responsibility standards. With expanded coverage of digital briefing practices, refined treatment of standards of review, and innovative “dual-track” exercises that promote critical reflection, the Third Edition prepares students for a rapidly evolving legal landscape.

New to the Third Edition:

  • Additional strategies for outlining, argument mapping, and using AI as a brainstorming aid
  • Updated judicial insights that exemplify the hallmarks of persuasive and well-organized appellate writing  
  • More guidance on how appellate procedural rules shape jurisdiction, briefing, and error preservation
  • Enhanced illustrations to deepen student understanding of de novo, clear error, and abuse-of-discretion review 
  • A fresh look at the realities of modern digital briefing, with guidance on issue framing, point headings, and AI-assisted drafting that emphasizes human judgment and ethics 
  • Expanded coverage of writing mechanics and editing tools to address AI’s evolving role in legal composition 
  • Applied exercises in which students compare their work with AI-generated output, fostering critical evaluation and professional accountability 
  • New materials on oral advocacy that integrate AI-driven practice questions, moot simulations, and guidance for remote argument preparation 

Professors and students will benefit from: 

  • Straightforward presentation of key concepts and rules  
  • The authors' consistent emphasis on a few overarching principles that inform and guide the process of writing an effective appellate brief: 
    • The perspective principle — putting the brief writer in the shoes of the judge
    • The structural principle — building an appellate brief around the issues
    • The organizational principle — separating the thought process from the writing process
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About the authors
Daniel Selmi
Loyola Law School Los Angeles

While in law school, Daniel Selmi was comments editor of the Santa Clara Law Review. After graduation, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Manuel L. Real, United States District Judge for the Central District of California. Selmi was appointed a deputy attorney general for the State of California, serving from 1976-83 in the Environmental Law and Natural Resources Law Sections. A lecturer at the University of California, Irvine in 1979-80 and an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School from 1981-83, he joined Loyola's full-time faculty in 1983 and served as associate dean for academic affairs from 1990-93. He has also served as reporter to the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Committee for the Central District of California, and during the 1993-94 academic year, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C.

Professor Selmi is co-editor of the six-volume treatise California Environmental Law and Land Use Practice, and co-author of the casebook Land Use Regulation: Cases and Materials. Over his career, he has briefed over 30 appellate cases involving environmental and land use law and argued over 20 of those in the appellate court, including three in the California Supreme Court. He coaches the Law School's student teams entered in the annual National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition and the California State Bar Section on Environmental Law's Annual Negotiation Competition. Professor Selmi has been a panelist on numerous occasions at the California State Bar Section on Environmental Law's Annual Conference at Yosemite. He has also been a panelist at both the Annual California Land Use Law and Planning Conference and the Los Angeles County Bar Section on Environmental Law's Annual "Super-Symposium." Most recently, he was a panelist at the First and Second Annual "Little NEPA" Conferences, sponsored by the American Bar Association's Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources. He has been a regular lecturer at the "Western Environmental Boot Camp," sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute, which educates new practitioners in the field of environmental law.

Rebecca Delfino
Clinical Professor of Law
Loyola Law School

At Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Professor Delfino’s work focuses on appellate law and procedure, the judicial branch, access to justice, and ADR. She is also working in the areas of state and municipal law and governance as well as education law. In addition to serving as the Director of the Externship Department, Professor Delfino teaches courses in appellate advocacy, negotiation, and judicial process. Professor Delfino has also developed a unique and intensive summer advocacy “boot camp” at Loyola for advanced legal writing and oral advocacy. In addition, she serves as the faculty advisor for Loyola’s nationally recognized and award-winning Moot Court Program.

Prior to joining the full-time faculty of the law school, Professor Delfino served as Lead Senior Appellate Attorney at the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Seven for 17 years. During her tenure at the Court of Appeal, she researched and prepared more than 500 bench memoranda and draft legal opinions in numerous areas of law from felony criminal cases to complex civil litigation, to family law and probate, to juvenile dependency and delinquency matters. In addition to her full-time position at the Court of Appeal, in 1999 Professor Delfino joined the adjunct faculty of Loyola Law School. Professor Delfino is a member of the adjunct faculty of Glendale Community College, where she teaches a political science course focused on California State and Local Government and a course focused on the United States Federal government and politics at the national level. Professor Delfino also serves as a “neutral” for the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Since 1999 she has been a mediator, arbitrator, and judge pro tem. As a volunteer bench officer, Rebecca has presided over more than 100 limited civil arbitrations and small claims trials.

Professor Delfino began her legal career as a litigator at Kirkland & Ellis and was later an associate at Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart & Sullivan in Los Angeles. She handled all phases of civil litigation in a variety of cases from complex multi-party product defect and construction cases to white-collar criminal defense, to protection of intellectual property rights, to defense of employment discrimination and harassment claims.

During law school, Professor Delfino had an externship with the Honorable William Shubb of the Federal District Court of the Eastern District of California in Sacramento. After graduation from law school, she served on a clerkship with the Honorable Cliff Young, Associate Justice of the Nevada State Supreme Court.
Product Information
Edition
Third Edition
Publication date
2026-02-02
Copyright Year
2026
Pages
282
Connected eBook + Paperback
9798892074827
Connected eBook (Digital Only)
9798892074834
LLPOD
9798892074858
Subject
Appellate Advocacy
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