California Blog of Appeal gives a link to an article that includes thoughts of a California Court of Appeal justice on how to handle oral argument. Among the recommendations: “You … can only guess at what may be motivating a question. … Although discerning the underlying purpose of a question may be akin sometimes to reading tea leaves, by doing so, you can focus your argument to deal with the concerns of the judges who may be unfavorably inclined toward your case.”
Appellate practitioners will want to take note.