Get too cute? Get Sanctioned.

Referencing pop culture in briefs can sometimes be helpful; ditto for poetry, maybe. but get too cute, and you may get sanctioned, as happened recently in the 11th Circuit. That court upheld sanctions against a pro se lawyer whose lengthy filings were full of exclamation points, disorganized ranting, and a nonsensical haiku: "He fails to coherently cite case law, though he cites Bugs Bunny."

ABAJ's article is Sanctions upheld for lawyer who included an original haiku in filing and cited Bugs Bunny; Law360's article is 11th Circ. Backs Fla. Atty's Sanctions For Shushing And Haiku

For more outrageousness see also 'You are not dicking around with a rookie;' lawyer's deposition 'churlishness' is memorialized