appellate lawyers

I admit it. I am an appellate argument junkie. This has been a long-standing problem, but one that took on new dimensions when the Supreme Court of Virginia began releasing audio recordings of oral arguments about ten years ago. I then began listening to the Court’s arguments in earnest. Now, of course, the availability of audio recordings of appellate arguments is ubiquitous. This means that anyone can hear an appellate argument without their leaving the house, car, or office. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m hooked. So is this a good habit or a bad one? Because I […]

Despite a set schedule, appellate briefing is not necessarily closed prior to decision.  Even after oral argument, a party may submit “supplemental authorities” by letter to the clerk.  This letter is not limited to just citing the new authority—argument is ok too. The rules for submitting supplemental authority are similar across the Court of Appeals of Virginia, the Supreme Court of Virginia, and the Fourth Circuit. The “authority” cited must be “pertinent and significant.”  Temporally, it should “come to a party’s attention” (i) after the party’s petition/brief was filed or (ii) after oral argument, but before decision; the letter must […]

My law professor once said that administrative law is “electrical engineering for lawyers.”  I did not fully appreciate what this meant, other than that it sounded complicated.  That was until I had the opportunity to spend years watching the regulatory and appellate process up-close.   I had the honor and privilege of coordinating review of Virginia’s regulatory process on behalf of the Virginia Governor.  As Deputy Counsel and then Counsel to Governor Terry McAuliffe, I reviewed more regulations than, I suspect, most any other lawyer in the state. More importantly, I saw the process work and not work.  And I watched […]

A New Path for Appellate Lawyers Last year, the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals of Virginia was expanded to offer aggrieved litigants in civil cases an automatic right of appeal. Va. Code § 17.1-405(A)(3).[1] That change offers opportunities for the Court to provide guidance to circuit courts and litigants in many areas of law that are unsettled, under-developed, or otherwise unclear. This is particularly true of corporate law under the Virginia Stock Corporation Act, an area in which decisions by the Supreme Court of Virginia have been few and far between over the past few decades, despite significant statutory […]