About the Appellate Project
Founded in 2009, the UC Law Appellate Project offers a unique year-long opportunity for 3L students. While enrolled in UCLAP, students handle pro bono appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit or the California First District Court of Appeal under the mentorship of supervising attorneys who specialize in appellate practice. UCLAP students work on cases in teams of two. They review the record and identify issues for appeal, conduct in-depth research, draft opening and reply briefs, handle document filings, calendaring, and client correspondence, and deliver oral argument before a three-judge panel. UCLAP students have also assisted with merits briefing in the California Supreme Court and with cert-stage briefing in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Students participating in the Appellate Project have successfully represented clients on a range of matters, including an invalid guilty plea, denial of due process in immigration proceedings, wrongful arrest, improper denial of benefits, and prisoner civil rights.
Cases that UCLAP handles:
Since 2009, UCLAP students have represented clients in appeals involving:
· immigration proceedings;
· wrongful arrest;
· employment law;
· foreclosure and housing rights;
· prisoner civil rights; and
· criminal law.
The Appellate Project students have achieved favorable rulings in numerous cases, including precedential published opinions in:
Galanti v. Nevada Dep’t of Corr., 65 F.4th 1152 (9th Cir. 2023) (holding that Heck v. Humphrey, did not bar the prisoner’s § 1983 claim and the prisoner pled a plausible due process claim)
Maie v. Garland, No. 19-73099 (9th Cir. Aug. 02, 2021) (holding that Hawaii conviction for petty misdemeanor theft was not a crime involving moral turpitude)
Diaz-Reynoso v. Barr, 968 F.3d 1070 (9th Cir. 2020) (holding that Matter of A-B, did not announce a categorical bar on asylum claims by domestic violence victims, and that the BIA must conduct case-by-case particular social group analysis)
Castrijon-Garcia v. Holder, 704 F.3d 1205 (9th Cir. 2013) (holding that California conviction for simple kidnapping was not a crime involving moral turpitude)
Hernandez-Velasquez v. Holder, 611 F.3d 1073 (9th Cir. 2010) (holding that the BIA abused its discretion by failing to weigh all relevant evidence in a factual dispute over whether the petitioner received notice of
the BIA’s decision)
UCLAP Timeline:
This is a demanding, year-long program. Most teams begin their fieldwork component in the summer, prior to the formal start of the academic year. Cases are selected over the summer, so students must be prepared to start working on matters prior to the start of the fall semester. Students can expect to complete their fieldwork prior to the official end of the fall semester. Similarly, students may begin work for the spring semester before the semester starts, but they can expect the workload to be reduced at the end of the semester. Students will track the time that they work before the start of each semester, and include that time in their total fieldwork hours. To ensure continuity in representing our clients through their entire appeal, the clinic is a two-semester experience.
Requirements:
The UC Law Appellate Project is open to third-year J.D. students only. Students must be able to enroll in the clinic for both their 5 th and 6 th semesters. (UCLAP I in the fall, and UCLAP II in the spring). Students must devote the necessary amount of time to these cases on the aforementioned schedule. As a result, they may not concurrently enroll in another clinic or field placement without prior approval. Additionally, students must have completed LRW I & II, and Appellate Advocacy. Transfer students are eligible to apply with completion of commensurate coursework.
Admission:
Admission to UCLAP is by application only. Applications may be considered from rising 3L students at the end of their 2L year after completion of the relevant requirements. The application process is coordinated through the Moot Court Team tryouts in April.
Get Involved:
Every year, the Appellate Project seeks volunteer judges (students and practitioners) to help the student prepare to argue before the appellate court. The practice schedules are posted under the “Judge a Practice” tab on this website starting in February or March for the oral arguments that typically occur in April or May. Please join us!
If you are interested in applying for the UC Law SF Appellate Program, please contact Leah Spero.
Meet the Supervising Attorneys of the UC Law SF Appellate Project
Leah Spero
Director of UC Law Appellate Project;
Chief Supervising Attorney
Leah Spero has served as a supervising attorney for the Appellate Project since 2017 and is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of appellate lawyers. Her students have successfully challenged orders of removal in immigration cases, won relief for clients in civil rights lawsuits, and reversed criminal convictions and sentencing decisions.
Leah has extensive appellate experience as a litigator and a court staff attorney. For the past decade, she has focused on court-appointed criminal appeals in federal and state court and has handled select civil appeals. Before starting her own practice, Leah worked as a law clerk and a staff attorney at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for five years and has since served as an Appellate Lawyer Representative to the Court. Leah started her career at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, where she litigated both trial and appellate cases. While a student at UC Law San Francisco, Leah externed at the California Supreme Court and the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. She is a proud member of the UC Law moot court family and won the national Lefkowitz Trademark Moot Court Competition with her teammate as a 2L. Leah earned her B.A. in English and Political Science at Duke University.
In addition to acting as Director and Supervising Attorney for the Appellate Project, Leah directs the California Appellate Advocacy Program at UC Law, which provides free moots for attorneys who will be arguing before the California Supreme Court.
Leah is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers; past Chair of the California Lawyers Association’s Committee on Appellate Courts; and a member of the Association’s Amicus Committee. She founded the Bay Area Appellate Inn of Court in 2025 and serves as its inaugural President.
Andrew (Andy) Love
Supervising Attorney
Andy Love has been an appellate practitioner for nearly forty years. He is a partner at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s San Francisco office where he is a member of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group. Andy concentrates on federal appeals involving securities fraud class actions. He has successfully briefed and argued many cases on behalf of defrauded investors and consumers in the Ninth Circuit and in other federal appellate courts around the country.
Before joining Robbins Geller, Andy was a death penalty defense lawyer. He represented inmates on California’s death row in habeas corpus proceedings and on direct appeal as a staff attorney at the California Appellate Project, in private practice, and then for a dozen years as a Supervising Deputy State Public Defender. Andy obtained relief for capital clients in both the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit. Andy began his legal career as a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County.
Andy was a long-time co-chair of the Capital Case Defense Seminar, recognized as the largest conference for death penalty practitioners in the country. Additionally, he was on the faculty of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s Post-Conviction Skills Seminar. More recently, Andy served as a practitioner-advisor for U.C. Berkeley Law’s Appellate Advocacy Program.
Andy earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University of Vermont and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he graduated cum laude and was a member of the McAuliffe Honor Society.