Here is the announcement. The 9th Circuit BAP has six judges who hold their office for a seven year term. The appointment to Judge Brand is well deserved. She is one of four bankruptcy judges downtown who hears chapter 13 cases. Judge Meredith Jury is the Chief Judge now. She and Judge Brand will sit on a lot of panels together since the BAP judges may not hear appeals from the district they are from. I believe each BAP judge gets one additional clerk. I’m not sure if their regular caseload is reduced or not but if it is, the reduction is small.
There is a huge amount of information about the BAP and appeals in general on the 9th Circuit BAP website. You can access the Litigants Manual here. Below is some information I copied from the Litigant’s Manual.
The BAP judges are all active bankruptcy court judges from districts within the Ninth Circuit. All maintain a regular trial docket in their home districts. Currently there are six members of the BAP; the seventh position is vacant to keep operating costs low and to allow opportunities for pro tem judge participation. The current members of the BAP are:
Hon. Meredith A. Jury (C.D. California), Chief Judge
Hon. Randall L. Dunn (D. Oregon)
Hon. Ralph B. Kirscher (D. Montana)
Hon. Laura S. Taylor (S.D. California)
Hon. Frank Kurtz (E.D. Washington)
Hon. Robert J. Faris (D. Hawaii)
BAP judges are appointed by the Circuit for a seven-year term. At the end of that term, they may seek reappointment for an additional three years.
The BAP also routinely utilizes pro tem judges in order to give appellate experience to other bankruptcy judges within the Ninth Circuit. A pro tem judge sits on a one-day merits panel and has an equal vote with the regular BAP judges. Normally, a pro tem judge only participates on motions in appeals where the pro tem judge has been assigned to hear the merits. The contributions of the pro tem judges allow the BAP to set more calendars and hear more cases.
The BAP hears cases nine months out of the year, with the three-judge panels traveling to various venues in the Ninth Circuit. The BAP does not normally hold hearings during April, August and December.
The BAP utilizes video conferencing and, where not available, teleconferencing and continues to explore the use of new technology to facilitate more convenient hearings for counsel and litigants.