Topic
Brief Writing
62 published works
Sixth Circuit Appellate Blog
Circuit judges offer brief writing tips
It is not every day that sitting judges give lawyers specific instruction on how to write their briefs. Judge Kethledge wrote a helpful primer about effective writing a while back. …
Appellate Advocacy Blog
Appellate Briefs-One Judge’s View of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
By Judge Mary Jane Trapp (Ret.)
I am honored to join the “The Appellate Advocacy Blog” as a regular contributor, and I look forward to sharing my views from both sides of the bench.The most frequent…
Appellate Advocacy Blog
Drafting Persuasive Facts
Everything we write in appellate briefs provides an opportunity to persuade, from the table of contents through the argument. But persuading through facts can be challenging, given the “frequent admonition…
Appellate Advocacy Blog
Writing Briefs, Rather than Literary Works
Some great literary works feature elegant and meticulously assembled sentences of considerable length. They carry you away like a leaf dancing in the wind, sending you headfirst into a wonderous…
Southern California Appellate News
"a note on civility"
2/4 publishes an opinion here to draw attention to a "note on civility and persuasive briefing writing":Having resolved the merits of the appeal, we cannot allow the tone of the…
Southern California Appellate News
7 Tips from The Portia Project
The Record has Brief Writing Tips From the Judicial Guests of The Portia Project Podcast -- Appellate lawyer M.C. Sungaila, creator and host of the Portia Project podcast, has interviewed nearly 100…
Appellate Advocacy Blog
Judge Michael’s Brief-Writing Tips, Part 2
Last post, I shared part of a great list of ten brief-writing tips from the Hon. Terrence L. Michael, Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the…
Appellate Advocacy Blog
Judge Michael’s Brief-Writing Tips, Part 1
One of my exciting (yes, really) summer projects is to help with a Legal Writing textbook, including drafting a chapter on trial briefs. In looking at state and local rules…
Sixth Circuit Appellate Blog
Virtues of restraint in federal appellate brief writing
Nearly a decade ago, in an opinion by Judge Kethledge, the Sixth Circuit set forth “good reasons not to call an opponent’s argument ‘ridiculous.’” Bennett v. State Farm Mut. Auto.…
Appellate Advocacy Blog
Two Overlooked Tips for Writing Briefs and Arguing Cases
Experienced appellate advocates often tell others that the art of effective brief writing relies on a uniform set of tips, such as keeping sentences short, using topic sentences, and simplifying…