all right are you able to hear me and to respond freely or write in your interspersed your request to represent yourself in this appeal the court has authorized me to conduct this hearing to make sure that you have the right to counsel in this appeal if you cannot afford to retain counsel you are entitled to have counsel appointed to represent you a government expense the court also has discretion to allow you to represent yourself if your request is knowing intelligent and unequivocal is not intended to delay the proceedings on appeal in determining whether the court will allow you to represent yourself the court will inform you of the dangers and disadvantages of self or presentation on appeal enquire whether the issues are the appeal are so complex that the assistance of counsel with the aid the court will decide in the case and enquire whether grit in self representation could undelete burden luke who are or undermine the integrity of the outcome you understand all that all right you may withdraw your request to represent yourself and in that event you may retain counsel who will enter an appearance i am authorized to appoint counsel to represent you if you are unable to afford counsel the court of appeals does not however permit the appointment of advisory or standby counsel so you may not represent yourself and simultaneously have counsel or to represent you nonetheless i'm going to go through the same kind of colloquy i would with someone who has i'm trained in the law just so that there is a record that you understand all the elements that you would need to understand in order to a written statement just in order to move the proceedings along today i understand you have an undergraduate degree from the university of california at berkeley and believing you don't major in rhetoric in economics is that correct and then you went directly to law school right afterwards at case western reserve is to have that right and that you have just doctorate degree from case western correct already what year did you graduate from and when did you pass the bar exam apologize if this seems very elementary to you but i want to make sure we cover that so the first prize that it is that an appeal is different from a trial the proceedings or per mainly through written submissions the briefs and those briefs have to comply with specific ninth circuit rules and federal rules governing briefing on appeals and if you represent yourself you will be required to comply with those rules and your appeal can be dismissed if you do not comply to understand that but i don't feel you must attain and review the transcripts of the trial court proceedings and identify potential legal errors at trial the issues on appeal are limited to addressing were occurred at trial the court of appeals does not consider new evidence identified appropriation this requires specific legal knowledge and sophisticated analytic ability if you fail to identify a legal issue you may be barred from raising that issue again if you understand all that you are also required to support any assertion of error with legal authority that means you must be able to research and understand the provisions of the constitution federal statutes and rules and cases from the relevant courts that have discussed that area of the law this task requires familiarity with legal research techniques you understand that there are also strategic determinations that come into play in any appeal for example you might identify six or seven issues but only one of which is strong and the others we it takes judgment and experience to know how many issues you should raise if you race to really you may undermine the strength of your strong issue or issues by hiding it among a host of weaker issues that's only one of the strategic calls that criminal appellate specialists have to bank you'll have to do that yourself if you represent yourself you understand that it's awfully difficult just to understand the analytic components of an issue even if you are able to do that it is extremely difficult to convey that understanding persuasively in writing to judges who have limited time to read and study the briefs the lawyers who specialize in criminal appeal spent years developing and perfecting their skills but if you represent yourself you'll have to try to accomplish the same thing without that same criminal appellate training and experience you understand that there are also additional difficulties  encounter in representing yourself your access to legal materials may that be as extensive and free as a lawyer would have you may or may not have some assistance in the facility where you reside and  there is no guarantee that you'll have the same level of assistance available to you finally it will be more difficult for you to communicate with the court by telephone that it will be for a work to do so you understand all that in addition to the written submission to the court allows oral argument typically of ten to twenty minutes per side in some cases the oral argument is an opportunity for the parties to ensure that the judges understand arguments it's also an opportunity for the judges to ask specific questions about the proper disposition of the appeal where a criminal defendant is represented by counsel the court often but not always allows oral argument where a criminal defendant represents himself on the p l o the court or was never allows or but instead rely solely on the written briefs so if you are represent or so that completes my description of the dangers and disadvantages of suffering the print edition of the p l o so mr yang i'm turning the spotlight at here and saying if there's anything else you would like to add the appellate lawyer is going to look at the case the way the judges do and be able to evaluate the case based on her record the same way the judges will see judges who are at the trial they don't know what actually from my own personal experience i can tell you that where i did trial where it was very difficult for me to take a look at a fresh look at the case once i was would try scope of review can be difficult when everything that you want to say as a trial lawyer i know i always wanted everything to be reviewed you know if i had was school and if i had one below i wanted everything to be reviewed as strictly as larry i'm going to be sure report a recommendation to a panel of judges and i am now inclined to recommend grant your request to represent yourself because i believe you know in brief the case  or reject the recommendation or we may add it to me for further proceedings you understand all that do you have any questions do you have any other statement  wish to make at this time all right so i think our work is done here today thank you mr yang for participating and i also with reported recommendation i'll serve a copy on year to at the same time i submit it to a panel for their consideration so that way we will expedite the process