In my nearly 40 years as a writ attorney in the Court of Appeal, Second District, I found that practitioners were often confused by the various notices and orders issued by the court related to appellate writs.

The strangest is the Palma notice. Here, the strangest is the best outcome for the petitioning party—a Palma notice issues only when all three justices on the deciding panel agree that the superior court's error is clear, the facts are not in dispute, and immediate relief is necessary. The court sets a briefing schedule but does not schedule oral argument. Instead, the Palma notice acts to inform the parties that the court will determine the issues on the briefs, alone.