Ninth Circuit Appellate Mentoring Program — Bofa Ca Unemployment (Dkt. 510.3)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California · No. 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB · Doc. 510-3 · 2025-07-01 · Docket on CourtListener

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Ninth Circuit Appellate Lawyer Representatives
APPELLATE MENTORING PROGRAM
1.
Purpose
The Appellate Mentoring Program is intended to provide mentoring on a voluntary basis 
to attorneys who are new to federal appellate practice or would benefit from guidance at the 
appellate level. In addition to general assistance regarding federal appellate practice, the project 
will provide special focus on two substantive areas of practice – immigration law and habeas 
corpus petitions. Mentors will be volunteers who have experience in immigration, habeas 
corpus, and/or appellate practice in general.  The project is limited to counseled cases. 
2.
Coordination, recruitment of volunteer attorneys, disseminating information about the 
program, and requests for mentoring 
Current or former Appellate Lawyer Representatives (ALRs) will serve as coordinators 
for the Appellate Mentoring Program.  The coordinators will recruit volunteer attorneys with 
appellate expertise, particularly in the project’s areas of focus, and will maintain a list of those 
volunteers. The coordinators will ask the volunteer attorneys to describe their particular 
strengths in terms of mentoring experience, substantive expertise, and appellate experience, and 
will maintain a record of this information as well. 
The Court will include information about the Appellate Mentoring Program in the case 
opening materials sent to counsel and will post information about it on the Court’s website.  
Where appropriate in specific cases, the Court may also suggest that counsel seek mentoring on a 
voluntary basis.
Counsel who desire mentoring should contact the court at mentoring@ca9.uscourts.gov, 
and staff will notify the program coordinators. The coordinators will match the counsel seeking 
mentoring with a mentor, taking into account the mentor’s particular strengths. 
3.
The mentoring process 
The extent of the mentor’s guidance may vary depending on the nature of the case, the 
mentee’s needs, and the mentor’s availability.  In general, the mentee should initiate contact with 
the mentor, and the mentee and mentor should determine together how best to proceed.  For 
example, the areas of guidance may range from basic questions about the mechanics of 
perfecting an appeal to more sophisticated matters such as effective research, how to access 
available resources, identification of issues, strategy, appellate motion practice, and feedback on 
writing.     
4.
Responsibility/liability statement
The mentee is solely responsible for handling the appeal and any other aspects of the 
client’s case, including all decisions on whether to present an issue, how to present it in briefing 
Case 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB     Document 510-3     Filed 07/01/25     PageID.29613 
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and at oral argument, and how to counsel the client.  By participating in the program, the mentee 
agrees that the mentor shall not be liable for any suggestions made. In all events, the mentee is 
deemed to waive and is estopped from asserting any claim for legal malpractice against the 
mentor.  
The mentor’s role is to provide guidance and feedback to the mentee. The mentor will 
not enter an appearance in the case and is not responsible for handling the case, including 
determining which issues to raise and how to present them and ensuring that the client is notified 
of proceedings in the case and receives appropriate counsel. The mentor accepts no professional 
liability for any advice given. 
5.
Confidentiality statement
The mentee alone will have contact with the client, and the mentee must maintain client 
confidences, as appropriate, with respect to non-public information. 
Case 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB     Document 510-3     Filed 07/01/25     PageID.29614 
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