Legal Argument: The Structure and Language of Effective Advocacy

law argumentAfter a lively hour of argument, throughout which all however the famously reticent Justice Clarence Thomas asked multiple questions, the fate of Kansas’ application of its identification theft legal guidelines to the noncitizen-defendants stays troublesome to predict. Generally talking, nevertheless, the court’s liberal wing seemed disposed in the direction of discovering the state prosecutions preempted, whereas Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito appeared skeptical of the noncitizens’ preemption arguments. We heard little today concerning the impact of the Supreme Court’s selections holding that every grownup has the proper to kind intimate relationships and marry no matter their intercourse and the intercourse of their beloved. The standard knowledge is that the members of the Court who didn’t assist those choices will be the least likely to agree with the staff.

This is a guide to oral argument, period, whether it’s a motion listening to in state courtroom or an attraction in a federal circuit. This is nice advice for anybody who has the time. But do you actually wish to do this kind of preparation when oral argument virtually NEVER changes the result of an appeal? (Ask any former appellate clerk when you doubt it.) Your time can be better spent writing the very best temporary. Practice your argument with non-lawyers, too.

I am not arraigning Lieut. Gedney, but I ask this Court, within the name of justice, to settle it of their minds, by what regulation it was carried out, and how far the principle it embraces is … Read More

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