We spent last post complaining about the difficulty of landing an assignment of error in the Goldilocks Zone. When I bring this up in real life, the response is usually that the Court solved this problem with Findlay v. Commonwealth, 287 Va. 111, 752 S.E.2d 868 (2014) .
Continue Reading Findlay is Not the Answer
What’s the Right Number of Assignments of Error?
Here’s one of the philosophical disagreements that make my life interesting: Is it better to include more assignments of error in a petition for appeal, or fewer?
Obviously, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. I bet that there are some cases out there that warrant nine assignments of error. And there are
The Art of Appellate Advocacy
You may have heard that William and Mary Law School did this thing where they sent a professor into a room with six justices from the Supreme Court of Virginia, asked them questions, taped the conversation, and put the video on the web. I fail to see why this is a big deal. I routinely
Screen Reading on the Rise at the Supreme Court of Virginia?
Look: I like toys. I work in a paperless law office. My enthusiasm for PDFs has rocketed to near-Svenson levels. I am a huge fan of tablets, and I probably do as much screen reading as any lawyer you’ll meet.
Even so, I’m a little concerned about a pair of orders that the Supreme
Supreme Court Thoughts and Muses from the VTLA’s Annual Meeting
Just about everyone who’s argued before the Supreme Court of Virginia has tortured him- or her-self with the same mind game at one point or another. It usually starts with a chain of thought that goes something like this:
Wow, that was an
Hicks v. Commonwealth: For the First Time Ever, SCV Applies “Good-Cause” Exception to Contemporaneous-Objection Rule
Frequent fliers in the Supreme Court of Virginia are all too familiar with Rule 5:25, the Court’s contemporaneous-objection rule.
The rule is straightforward:
No ruling of the trial court, disciplinary board, or commission before which the
case was initially heard will be considered as a basis
Adding Insult to Injury? Virginia Code Section 8.01-682 and the Mysterious $250 in Damages
We get questions about this a lot.
When the Supreme Court of Virginia issues a mandate affirming a judgment, it will sometimes include this line: ‘The appellant shall pay to the appellee two hundred and fifty dollars damages.”
Occasionally, the appellee maybe curious about his unexpected windfall. But when you’re
Legal Research: How Do You Know When Enough Is Enough?
I’ve never been any good at figuring out when I’m done with a legal research project. This will come as absolutely no surprise to those who know my many personality flaws and obsessions.
For most questions, I can get the right answer in less than two hours, a definitive answer in less than two days,
Seven Appellate Tips from a Seventh Circuit Judge
I was flipping through the latest volume of The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing when I came across an interview that Bryan Garner did with (then-Chief) Judge Frank Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit back in 2007. Bryan A. Garner, Interview with Judge Frank H. Easterbrook,
5 Reasons Why Appellees Win All the Time (And How You Can, Too)
Here’s a very basic, very depressing rule of thumb: roughly nine out of ten cases get affirmed.
The exact figures vary by court, and we can certainly debate the utility of macro and micro figures, but the basic disparity is there.
Part of it has to be a result of the appellee having a decent