The Basics of Appeals and Brief WritingANGELA J.  HILL & JUDY A.  KUENNEKEOFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDERFOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF  ILLINOIS(618) 435‐2552

Overview Seventh Circuit Admission

District Court Filings

Seventh Circuit Filings

Briefing

Oral Argument

Decision

Seventh Circuit Admission Admission Application:  http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/forms/applctn.pdf

Admission application submitted on ECF Utilities Bar Admission

Fee is waived for appointed attorneys

Application: Application for Admission to the 7th Circuit.pdf

District Court Filings

Notice of Appeal In General ‐ Must be filed within 14 days of entry of (i) judgment or (ii) the filing of the government’s notice of appeal.  Fed. R. App. P. 3, 4; Circuit Rule 4.

“[W]ithin 14 days after the entry of the order disposing of the” following motions:Motion for Judgment of Acquittal under Rule 29Motion for a New Trial under Rule 33Motion for Arrest of Judgment under Rule 34. Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)

Notice of Appeal Contents: The Notice of Appeal must “specify the party or parties taking the appeal”; “designate the judgment, order, or part thereof being appealed”; and “name the court to which the appeal is taken.”  Fed. R. App. P. 3(c)

Effect:  “The filing of a notice of appeal is an event of jurisdictional significance – it confers jurisdiction on the court of appeals and divests the district court of its control over those aspects of the case involved in the appeal.”  United States v. McHugh, 528 F.3d 538, 540 (7th Cir. 2008).

Example: NOA_Redacted.pdf

Docketing Statement Filed in district court at the time of filing the notice of appeal OR with the Seventh Circuit within seven days of filing Notice of Appeal.  Circuit Rule 3(c)(1).

Contents:Must comply with Circuit Rule 28(a) – Jurisdictional Statement Identify prior or related appellate proceedings in the case “[D]escribe any prior litigation in the district court, although not appealed, (a) arises out of the same criminal conviction, or (b) has been designated by the district court as satisfying the criteria of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).” “[I]dentify the prisoner’s current place of confinement and its current warden; if the prisoner has been released, the statement must describe the nature of any ongoing custody (such as supervised release) and identify the custodian.”

Docketing Statement Failure to file  within 14 days of filing of Notice of Appeal  “will lead to the imposition of a $100 fine on counsel.”   within 28 days of the filing of the Notice of appeal “will be treated as abandonment of the appeal, and the appeal will be dismissed.”

Example: Docketing Statement_Redacted.pdf

Transcript Request CJA counsel “must request a transcript of testimony and other relevant proceedings by completing a C.J.A. Form No. 24.  Circuit Rule 10.

Must order transcripts, “as the appellant considers necessary,” from the court reporter within 14 days after filing Notice of Appeal.  Fed. R. App. P. 10; Circuit Rule 10.

Order requirements: In writing State that the cost is to be paid by the United States under the Criminal Justice Act File a copy of the Order with the district clerk 

OR file a certificate stating that no transcript will be ordered.

Form: http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/forms/trans_info_sheet.pdf

Submit your voucher!

Seventh Circuit Filings

Seventh Circuit Basics Appointment in the district court follows you to the circuit court.

Seventh Circuit website – forms, vouchers, and other information. http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/

Briefing Schedule

Disclosure Statement Appearance & Corporate Disclosure Statement.  Fed. R. App. P. 26.1; Circuit Rule 26.1. Appearance and Disclosure Statement.pdfMust file “no later than 21 days after docketing the appeal, with a party’s first motion or response to an adversary’s motion, or when directed by the court, whichever time is earliest.”  Circuit Rule 26.1.

Briefs 3 Main Filings:  Appellant Brief Government Response Appellant Reply

Filing E‐file briefs Once E‐filings accepted, send paper copies (15 copies within 7 days of electronic filing)

Resources Seventh Circuit Website Practitioner's Handbook for Appeals‐ http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/forms/Handbook.pdf Call us!

Oral Argument The Seventh Circuit will docket the Notice of Oral Argument ‐ Notice of Oral Arg.pdf

File argument confirmation at least 5 days prior to oral argument ‐ arg_confirm_card.pdf

Decision Seventh Circuit Opinion

Order of Final Judgment

Mandate

Petition for Rehearing – within 14 days after entry of Judgment.  Fed. R. app. P. 40(a).

Petition for Rehearing En Banc – “must be filed within the time prescribed by Rule 40 for filing a petition for rehearing.”  Fed. R. App. P. 35(c).

Petition for Writ of Certiorari

Persuading Judges (and their law clerks):

13 TIPS FOR MORE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE LEGAL WRITING.

Judges can be persuaded only when three conditions are met:

(1)They must have a clear idea of what you’re asking the court to do.

(2)They must be assured that it’s within the court’s power to do it.

(3)After hearing the reasons for doing what you are asking, and the reasons for doing other things or doing nothing at all, they must conclude that what you’re asking is best—both in your case and in cases that will follow.

Antonin Scalia & Bryan Garner, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges (2008).

1. Tone & Style

Tip #1:Know your audience

• Who must be persuaded?• Trial vs. appellate judges• State vs. federal judges• Judicial temperament & philosophy

• How do the applicable court rules constrain the written presentation?

• Judges are overworked and inundated with things to read.

• Let the court know that you want to help them reach the correct and just result. Assume a posture of “respectful intellectual equality” with the bench.

Tip #2:Make it clear and concise

• Unless constrained by court rules, do not provide factual or legal detail that isn’t relevant to the relief requested

• Judges do not have the time or inclination to piece together the relevant legal and factual elements from a wordy or confusing brief. Often, such briefs will simply be ignored

• Assume that your writing will be skimmed, so make sure the important facts and arguments leap off the pages

• Eliminate legal jargon, cliché, and Latin• Use names and dates sparingly

“And so the judgments of the district court in these two cases must be affirmed. But we do wish to comment briefly on the length of the parties’ briefs. They total 250 pages, of which 31 pages consist of the district judge’s opinion (one opinion for the two cases). The other 219 pages are the parties’ arguments. There is no justification for such verbosity. These two consolidated cases are simple and straightforward. Our opinion is only seven pages long; and while such compression is not to be expected of the parties, they should have needed, and used, no more than 100 pages at the most to present their claims fully.”

Pinno v. Wachtendorf, 845 F.3d 328 (7th Cir. 2017)

Before:

COMES NOW, Appellant/Defendant, John Doe, by and through his undersigned counsel and respectfully moves this Court to reconsider its opinion denying Mr. Doe’s appeal. As the following discussion indicates, Mr. Doe submits that this Court has overlooked or misapprehended points of law and fact. All other claims for relief previously presented to the Court are specifically argued again; no claim previously raised is hereby abandoned. WHEREFORE, Mr. Doe respectfully requests this Court to grant rehearing and reconsider the opinion of January 1, 2017, affirming the district court’s denial of relief.

After:

Mr. Doe moves for rehearing of this Court’s January 1, 2017 opinion affirming the district court.

Before:

On December 11, 1990, officers of the Metropolitan Police Department executed a search warrant on a one-bedroom apartment at 2525 14th Street, N.E., in the District of Columbia. Upon entering the apartment, the officers found appellant seated on a small couch in the living room; they detained him while they searched the apartment. The search produced two ziplock bags containing a total of 15.7 grams of crack cocaine divided among 100 smaller ziplock bags, $ 500 in cash, empty ziplock bags, razor blades, ad three loaded and operable pistols. Two of the guns were under the cushions of the couch on which appellant sat; the third was in a nightstand in the bedroom. The cocaine and the cash were in an air duct vent in the ceiling of the bedroom. In the drawer of a dresser in the bedroom, the officers found two birthday cards; appellant's name was on the envelope of one, and the other was for a "son," signed "Mr. and Mrs. B. G. Morris" and dated November 30, 1990. No address was on either. In a hallway closet, the officers found a laundry ticket dated December 3, 1990, and bearing the name "E. Morris." There were no identifiable fingerprints on any of these items. The officers arrested appellant, who was indicted on two counts: possession with intent to distribute in excess of five grams of cocaine base and using or carrying a firearm in relation to the possession offense.

United States v. Morris, 977 F.2d 617, 619 (D.C. Cir. 1992)

After:

Police had a warrant to search a one-bedroom apartment. Upon entering they found the defendant sitting on a small couch in the living room. The search revealed drugs, cash, and drug paraphernalia, and also three pistols—two under the cushions of the couch and the third in a nightstand on the bedroom.

Richard A. Posner, Judges’ Writing Styles (And Do They Matter?), 62 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1421, 1436 (1995) (rewriting facts section from United States v. Morris).

Tip #3:Make it interesting

• Tell the court a story• How would the issue be explained to a non-lawyer?

Tip #4:Know your adversary’s case

• If you are writing first, imagine yourself in your adversary’s position and come up with their best arguments.

• Decide which of your adversary’s arguments are compelling enough to discuss preemptively. Decide which arguments are better saved for a reply

• Judges loathe attorney squabbling. Do not accuse or bicker.

2. Architecture and Strategy

Tip #5:Use argumentative point headings

• Do not start writing until you have drafted your point headings

• Point headings are most effective when crafted as arguments, not labels

• In drafting your point headings, assume the point headings are the only thing the court will read. Together they should capture every concept of your argument

Before:PETITIONER’S CONSOLIDATED

REPLY IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO AMEND § 2254 PETITION;RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION TO MOTION TO STRIKE

I. Eleventh Circuit Standard

II. Respondent’s Defenses Generally

III. Respondent’s Timeliness Defenses

IV. Respondent’s Other Defenses

V. Respondent’s Motion to Strike

After:

I. Respondent does not identify substantial reasons to deny Petitioner’s motion to amend under the Eleventh Circuit’s standard

II. Respondent’s defenses to Petitioner’s proposed amended claims are premature and, if accepted at this stage as a basis to deny leave to amend, would erroneously impose a heightened pleading standard on Petitioner

III. Petitioner’s motion to amend proffered that proposed amended Claims II and III(C)(1) are not, as Respondent argues, precluded by the statute of limitations, and even if Respondent’s timeliness defenses to those claims are prematurely entertained, they should be rejected as meritless

IV. Even if Respondent’s other premature defenses to the proposed amendment are entertained at this juncture they are meritless

V. Respondent’s motion to “strike” is procedurally improper and substantively meritless

Before:

PETITIONER’S RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION TO RESPONDENT’S MOTION FOR CERTIFICATION OF INTERLOCUTORY APPEAL

I. Eleventh Circuit Standard

II. The Order Sought to be Appealed

III. Advancing the Litigation

After:

I. The Eleventh Circuit disfavors interlocutory appeals under § 1292(b) and certification requires the challenged district court order to be directly associated with at least one claim, if not the entire case itself

II. This Court’s June 3 order does not involve a controlling question of law as to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion

III. Immediate appeal from the June 3 order will stall, not materially advance, the ultimate termination of the litigation

Tip #6:Organize your point headings to create large-scale organization

• After creating your point headings, decide how they should be organized by creating large-scale organization. Trying creating a paragraph using only the sentences from your point headings. How should the sentences be arranged so the paragraph is most impactful?

• When possible, lead with your best arguments

Tip #7:Create small-scale organization

under each point heading• Under each point heading, start by writing a roadmap paragraph

• The paragraphs that follow should lead to what seems to be the inevitable conclusion captured in the point heading

• Use paragraph sign posts

Tip #8:Write facts and procedural history last• Unless otherwise constrained by court rules, do not drown the court in the

lengthy factual and procedural background of the case• Only provide the factual and procedural details that are directly relevant to the

relief requested and the supporting legal arguments• You may not know at the outset which facts and procedural details will be

necessary to understanding the argument, so try writing those sections last• In most writing, factual and procedural background can be accomplished in a

page or two, with very few exact dates

3. Legal Argument

Tip #9:Start with a clear request

• In an opening sentence or paragraph, tell the court exactly what you would like it to do, and under what authority the court is empowered to take the action you propose, with as little detail-clutter as possible

• Give the court a general idea of what it can find in the pages that follow

Tip #10:Don’t forget the standard of review• Identify the standard of review early• When advantageous, keep the focus on the standard of review• Do not take on more burden than necessary• Consider the standard for obtaining a certificate of appealability (“COA”) to

appeal the denial of federal habeas relief. Focus on showing that jurists of reason could debate the issues, even if no jurists would ultimately grant relief. Don’t make your job harder by surrendering this standard and arguing the merits.

Tip #11:Clarify abstract principles with

examples; appeal not just to rules but to justice and common sense

• You can often strengthen your legal arguments—and help guard against judicial brief-skimming—by providing real-world examples to illustrate your point

ORDER ON THE ELECTRONIC FILING OF THE STATE-COURT RECORD

Legend has it that in an insane rage, Ned Ludd of Leicestershire, England, rushed into a stocking weaver’s home and destroyed his equipment. A few years later, in 1811, textile workers in Nottingham, England, rioted, destroying new machinery that was imperiling their jobs. The workers came to be known as Luddites. Their effort to hold back the tide of progress ultimately failed; most clothes are made today not by hand but with ever-more-sophisticated machines. In the two centuries since the Nottingham riots, many more opponents of progress have tried to stop the advance of technology. They have almost always failed. But still they try.

Electronic filing came to the federal courts in 2003. Not surprisingly, there was grumbling. Attorneys had to learn how to use the new system, and some had to buy new equipment. But the benefits of the new system far outweighed the costs. Today nobody would suggest we go back. In defending state-court death sentences in federal court, the respondent has held on to the past. The respondent still files records in hard copy, not electronically. In response to my order directing the respondent to electronically file the state-court record in this case, the respondent says I simply do not understand. The respondent says I need only talk to the court’s information-technology staff to confirm the error of my ways. This in a country that put men on the moon in 1969 and brought them home safely.

Guardado v. Jones, No. 4:15-cv-256 (N.D. Fla. April 26, 2016) (Hinkle, J.)

Tip #12:Don’t lose trust

• The court’s trust in you can be lost very quickly. Glaring misstatements or omissions of fact or law will quickly make the judge question every other sentence in your brief. Often the rest of the brief will be ignored

• Keep an eye on the thin line between the creative use of case law and hiding the ball. The former is expected of defense attorneys. The latter annoys judges.

Tip #13:Use persuasive language

• Use subjects and verbs for specific effect• Choose concrete words• Choose the most appropriate term of address• Repeat key words• Repeat sentence or phrase structures• Adjust sentence length• Insert information into a sentence with care• Place key phrases at the beginning or end of sentence• Use subtly, rather than overtly, emotional language