How to Start a Brief
Or how not to.
Legal Writing
Defendant Seeks New Trial Based on Ineffective Assistance of Somebody Else’s Counsel
Surprisingly, a man convicted of murdering his entire family has lost his bid for a new trial despite his argument that defense counsel's conduct was so "public and obnoxious" it hurt his case. This already weak argument (see Jerry Sandusky's…
“A Real Snor’easter”: The Best Supreme Court Review There Is
I don’t know what John Elwood did to the people at SCOTUSblog to get himself sentenced to the task of reviewing the list of cases that the Supreme Court has either relisted or held, meaning it has not yet made…
There She Blows! ‘Tis the Contract for Moby Dick!
Agreement made between Harper and Brothers of the city of New York, Publishers, of the one part and Herman Melville of Pittsfield Massachusets [sic] of the other part, witnesseth— That the said Harper and Brothers have agreed to publish and…
It Was the Curb’s Fault [Updated]
From a Courthouse News summary of a case recently filed in San Francisco, including a sentence presumably taken from the complaint: Paulina H. v. Flyers Energy LLC et al., CGC-12-525132 (S.F. Superior Ct. filed Oct. 15, 2012) Trip and fall. The unmarked raised…
The Casebook You’ve Always Wanted—Only Cases Involving Zombies
Here's a Kickstarter project that needs your help, at least if you would like to have a compendium of all federal cases that involve zombies (or at least contain the word "zombie" and derivatives thereof). From the Kickstarter page: ZOMBIE…
Judge Concurs to Say Majority Opinion Is Too Damn Long
Who wants to read a 104-page opinion? Not this guy.
DOJ: Opponent’s Use of 12-Point Font “Prejudices the United States”
A heated battle recently took place in D.C. between the federal government and South Carolina in a voting-rights case that may have important implications for the upcoming election. Of course I'm referring to lawyers' bickering over font size. Not that it…
There Is No Klingon Word for Deference
Of course there isn’t.
All Briefs Should Now Be in Comic-Book Form
If I could draw I might do all of my work this way.