Fed Cir in CA

The Recorder has 'The Most Peculiar Federal Court in the Country' Comes to Berkeley Law -- After sitting together as a panel to hear arguments in three cases Tuesday morning, Federal Circuit Judges Timothy Dyk, Raymond Chen and Judge Kara Stoll answered law students' questions about the qualities of winning advocates.

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is hearing arguments at law schools and courthouses around the San Francisco Bay Area this week. Occasionally hitting the road helps the Washington, D.C.-based court meet its statutory requirement to provide "reasonable opportunities to citizens to appear before the court" and reinforces its national jurisdiction.
• the students' questions about winning advocacy shook loose some of the most interesting observations from the jurists.
• Stoll said the most important thing is to learn how to write clearly and persuasively. But she said that it's important to know the caselaw as well. "The most persuasive briefs spend a lot of time on the arguments," she said. But, she added, those briefs are upfront in acknowledging the weak points in their arguments. "We don't always see parties that do that. Sadly, sometimes we'll see parties that … won't even acknowledge a weak point or a difficult fact that we have in their face until the reply brief, when they're responding to what their adversary has said in the rebuttal brief," she said, adding that that's a mistake.
• So is failing to address difficult questions head-on at oral argument. "The important thing is to listen to them and actually answer the question," Stoll said. "There are people who don't, unfortunately." Stoll attributed some of the unresponsiveness to advocates being excited or nervous. But she said that in some cases, it's because they're unprepared. She said the best way to deal with the question of preparation is to get together with colleagues to come up with "the most diabolical" questions that could come your way. She said that those sort of mock sessions allow an advocate to both address the tough questions and figure out paths to get back on track to making their strongest points.