Emily Green in the Daily Journal [subscription] and Marisa Kendall in The Recorder [subscription] report on yesterday’s first Supreme Court oral arguments with Justices Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar and Leondra Kruger. Green observes that Cuéllar “has an uncommonly expressive face” with “eyebrows . . . in constant motion.”
The article also notes that, in asking a question, Kruger referred to the attorney’s opposing counsel as “your friend on the other side.” This cordial reference is likely 
an influence from Kruger’s days as a veteran U.S. Supreme Court advocate in the U.S. Solicitor General’s office. The Wall Street Journal reported in July (“The Supreme Court has Gotten a lot ‘Friendlier’ Under Roberts”) that, over the last several years, for some U.S. Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, “friend” has become the preferred term for opposing counsel, and that Solicitor General Donald Verrilli has “never used any term but ‘friend’ to describe his opponent.” Verrilli is quoted as saying, “I think I picked it up from ‘Rumpole of the Bailey,’ I kid you not.”
The Daily Journal piece also tells that Cuéllar has picked a staff that includes a mix of permanent attorneys and annual clerks. He suggested two months ago that he would join Justice Goodwin Liu in not having a staff of only career attorneys. According to the article, Kruger has not yet named her staff.