Reducing lag time in appeals

In many appellate courts it often takes a long time to get an argument date once briefing is complete. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has announced some new practices designed to reduce this time. Specifically:

1. The court will only consider scheduling conflicts by arguing counsel; non-arguing counsel and client conflicts will no longer be considered when scheduling argument.
2. Arguing counsel must provide an explanation, including a showing of good cause, for any submitted scheduling conflict.
3. Arguing counsel will be limited to submitting only ten total days of unavailability during the six consecutive court weeks identified in the Notice to Advise of Scheduling Conflicts.

Also of federal note, NLJ reports Supreme Court Rule Crimps Crowd-Funded Amicus Briefs: “The Clerk’s Office interprets this language [of Rule 37.6] to preclude an amicus from filing a brief if contributors are anonymous”

And ABA Journal has Sotomayor and Gorsuch often use these signature phrases during oral arguments

In 9th Circuit/Pregerson news, see At 91, Pierce College Professor Teachers her Final Class --After 50 years on the job: Bernadine Pregerson was reluctantly hanging it up. (Hat tip to David Glassman for this item.)