I had my first two two telephone oral arguments in the Supreme Court of Virginia this morning. Merits arguments at that. They were weird! How so? Glad you asked:
Continue Reading Quick Report From a Pair of Telephone Oral Arguments at SCOVA
Oral Argument During the Pandemic
Longtime readers know that I’m a huge fan of oral argument. Giving counsel a chance to address the Court’s questions before the decision conference strikes me as vital.
But for obvious reasons, recent events have complicated courts’ efforts to hold argument.
The Hardest Problem at Oral Argument
Raffi Melkonian, an appellate lawyer from Texas and the dean of #appellatetwitter, has been working on what he considers the hardest problem at oral argument: the judge who has misunderstood something and is angry about it.
Continue Reading The Hardest Problem at Oral Argument
VLW Drops the Ball on 10 Steps for Oral Argument Prep
Have you seen this week’s Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly? First page, above the fold, is an article called “10 Steps for Preparing for an Appellate Argument” by Dawn Solowey, a tall-building lawyer from Boston. As longtime readers know that I’m a sucker for these articles.
Unfortunately, this one is an exception. It’s bad–preposterously bad, really,
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
Lessons from Baca v. Adams: Video Breakdown of a Ninth Circuit Beatdown
Ever want to see the appellate equivalent of torture porn? Here’s a video that’s making the rounds of an oral argument from the Ninth Circuit in a case called Baca v. Adams:
httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sCUrhgXjH4
Skip ahead to 16:03, and be sure to watch all the way to the end. Otherwise, you’ll miss the part where
The Hardest Part of Arguing in the Fourth Circuit–And Three Ways to Handle It
There’s a lot to like about practicing in the Fourth Circuit–the case managers are excellent, the local rules and IOPs are intuitive, and the staff is remarkably responsive. It’s probably the most user friendly court I’ve ever seen . . . except
Guest Post: Confessions of an Oral Argument Junkie
Here’s a guest post from my partner and longtime friend of De Novo, Monica Monday, in which she owns up to her personal demons (such as they are):
I admit it. I am an appellate argument junkie. This has been a long-standing problem, but when the Supreme Court of Virginia began releasing audio recordings
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,
How to Get a Writ Granted and Other Tips from the Justices
The VTLA just wrapped up another terrific annual meeting at the Homestead. I learned many things during the CLE sessions, including that I would like to be Mike Imprevento when I grow up.
But one of the absolute highlights of the meeting was a session called “Supreme Court Thoughts and Muses,” in which Jeffrey Breit