For those who have not done so already, you can access How Appealing’s 20 Questions for Circuit Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit here. In response to Howard’s question regarding what makes a good brief, I particularly enjoyed the following comments:
That is a tough question. The truly outstanding briefs are those that succinctly and with straight-forward clarity relate the existing law to their case. Too much time is spent, even in good briefs, reviewing legal principles with which most judges are familiar. I have proposed that each circuit publish a web-site on which the “boilerplate” for each area of law in that circuit is contained and referenced by an identifying number — much like standard jury charges. A committee of judges and/or staff attorneys could maintain the currency of the citations and text. In briefs all of those familiar legal principles could simply be enumerated (and perhaps “jump-cited” for the benefit of law clerks or new judges) thereby reducing the volume of reading and compelling counsel to focus on applying the law to the circumstances in the case before us. I have waded through pages chronicling the shifting burdens in an employment discrimination case only to be presented with a couple of paragraphs relating all of that law to the facts in the case on appeal.
The suggestion for circuit “boilerplate” is a great one, in my opinion. It would not only help judges, but also the lawyers who write the briefs and the clients who pay their bills.