2016 SCOTUS Year-End Report

Chief Justice Roberts Issues 2016 Year-End Report

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has issued his 2016 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary, highlighting the work performed by U.S. District judges. Read more.

The Federal Courts of Appeals In the regional courts of appeals, filings rose 15 percent to 60,357. Appeals involving pro se litigants, which accounted for 52 percent of filings, increased 18 percent. Total civil appeals decreased two percent, criminal appeals grew one percent, appeals of administrative agency decisions fell nine percent, and bankruptcy appeals fell ten percent. 

And see Bryan Garner's latest column How using checklists can improve your writing. He also offers a chronological outline for what to do when, noting:

One thing you might be curious about is why the statement of facts gets written only after the argument. Some lawyers would write it first. The danger there is that you will include material that doesn’t in some way illuminate the issues to be decided. You must rigorously exclude tangents and anything else that doesn’t contribute to the argument. One way to improve on that score is to write the statement of facts last. This method will also help you avoid arguing there. Even though all appellate rules say don’t argue in your statement of facts, lawyers routinely do it—to their clients’ disadvantage.

And who's hearing cases this month at the 9th in Pasadena? Kozinski, Watford, Tallman, Friedland, McKeown, Tashima, and Trott, with some help from Bennett (N.D. Iowa), Faber (S.D. WV), Whaley (E.D. Wash.) and Orrick (N.D. Cal.).