As part of a larger “Guide for Oral Argument” (dated January 2020, and designated “Version 2.0”), the Federal Circuit provided the following “Guidelines for Counsel During Argument.” Many of them are applicable as well to practice in the New Jersey appellate courts and the Third Circuit. Bracketed material is my commentary on the guidelines. Counsel should not interrupt a judge. [This is first on the Federal Circuit’s list, and for good reason.] Assume the court is familiar with the facts of the case. [Advocates waste precious time and “lose...

Last night’s meeting of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Committee featured a guest appearance by Judges Koblitz and Sumners. They took questions and shared advice about appellate practice, including what they like to see (and hear) and what they dislike. Some of that was familiar from comparable presentations by other Appellate Division judges. Other things reflected the thoughts of these particular jurists. Here are some highlights. The judges had a number of pointers about briefs. One was that “briefs should be brief.” Lengthy briefs do not...

In re Odyssey Contracting Corp., ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2019). Odyssey Contracting Corp. and L&L Painting Co., Inc., were (respectively) a subcontractor and the prime contractor on a project to repaint a bridge. They got into a payment dispute and sued each other for breach of contract. Odyssey filed for bankruptcy protection, and the legal dispute between these parties became and adversary proceeding in Bankruptcy Court. At the final pre-trial conference, the parties entered into a stipulation. That stipulation provided that if the Bankruptcy Court found that Odyssey was the breaching...