The Ninth Circuit Is In Trouble Too

It’s not just the Eastern District of California.  The Ninth Circuit is in trouble too.

Read this: Judges’ deaths add to the 9th Circuit backlog by the L.A. Times.

…

The deaths of four semi-retired senior jurists and full-time Circuit Judge Pamela Ann Rymer have intensified concerns on the aging bench and among judicial scholars that the 9th Circuit will fall farther behind in what is already the slowest pace of dispensing justice in the federal courts.

Judges of the 9th Circuit currently sit on twice the number of cases each year as those of the other 12 federal appeals courts . . . . And it takes an average of 16.3 months for the court’s panels to issue opinions after an appeal is filed, compared with 11.7 months on average for all circuits. The 9th Circuit has jurisdiction over California and eight other Western states and is authorized to have 29 full-time jurists.

…

Some judicial analysts also lament that the administration hasn’t pushed Congress to expand the federal judiciary, as recommended for more than a decade by the Judicial Conference of the United States. That policymaking body of the federal courts has said the 9th Circuit needs at least five more judges added to its authorized 29 to alleviate its annual caseload of 12,000-plus filings.

Could someone help, please?

 

Tools for Better Legal Writing

If only I wasn’t so hasty in wanting to spend my Barnes and Noble gift certificate, I might have waited a little to buy one of the following books (recommended by the Legal Writing Prof Blog):

Thinking Like a Writer: A Lawyer’s Guide to Effective Writing and Editing, by Stephen V. Armstrong and Timothy P. Terrell.

The Winning Brief: 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Court, by Bryan Garner.

Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. Williams (not specifically legal related) (Note: 9th ed. is now available with different title: Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by same author).

Legal Writing in Plain English: A Text with Exercises, by Bryan Garner

Legal Writing: Getting it Right and Getting it Written, by Mary Barnard Ray and Jill J. Ramsfield

Anything by Bryan Garner.

I already own Legal Writing in Plain English, and it’s an awesome book.  My girlfriend has The Winning Brief and The Red Book, both written by Bryan Garner, and I’ve been meaning to get my hands on them for quite some time.

After working for roughly a year with the U.S. Attorneys office I’ve picked up my own habits that I like to inject into every memorandum I write:

1. Figure out which jurisdictional attack your boss is planning and incorporate some of the standards into your writing.  For example, the majority of my work goes into P&A’s for Summary Judgment, so I always begin with a quick blurb on the standards of summary judgment, and what is necessary for our side to prove (depending if we’re the moving or non-moving party) given the context of the case.
2. Always give a general background of the area of law you’re discussing before developing specific cases with your client’s facts.  For example, if you’re writing up a memo on medical malpractice, two or three sentences discussing the general elements of a med mal cause of action wouldn’t hurt.  Most times your boss is too busy with so many different cases, and might need the general outline of the law to re-orient himself (or herself) so he (or she) can focus on this case.
3. Somewhere in the conclusion, or as the conclusion itself, argue to the judge reading your arguments about why a ruling for your side is fair.  Judges are just as concerned with law, facts and evidence as you are; however, they shoulder the burden of equity, and making sure that the law is applied in a manner that will produce justice.

That’s all I can think of right now, but if I think of more I’ll post them.  Any suggestions of your own?