Advice on getting a judge to rule in your favor It’s often a lawyer’s violation of the most common sense rules of the court that make it hard for a judge to rule in the lawyer’s favor, said Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, speaking in a Section of Litigation audio program, “Tips to Get a Judge to Rule in Your Favor, Part 1.” In particular, Cole cited local rules that lawyers find burdensome or don’t realize are important. “The local rules are there for a reason, and they are designed to be followed. The more you adhere to those rules, the more professional your presentation will seem, the more the court will appreciate it, and the less you will run into difficulty with things you should not have a problem with,” he said, advising lawyers to create a checklist of the important local rules in the jurisdiction in which they are practicing. Cole gave the example of local rule 37, “which says that you can’t present certain kinds of discovery motions until you’ve either had a face-to-face or telephonic conference with your opponent to try to resolve the particular dispute.”
One way to improve briefs: don’t use canned ones. “A canned brief signifies you’ve given the matter no thought at all, and you’re leaving it up to the judge to do all the work,” Cole said. Cole explained that the rule helps to alleviate court congestion, yet “the rule is violated as often as it is honored.” When rule 37 isn’t followed, “the judge will simply say, ‘you haven’t complied with the rule, and I won’t hear the motion,’ and you will have taken time away from the judge and he or she will remember. You will have spent your time needlessly, and your client’s money needlessly,” Cole warned, indicating that one of his colleagues will even sanction lawyers who fail to follow rule 37. In addition to following the local rules, Cole urged lawyers to improve the quality of their briefs. “It is very important to write a brief in support of whatever it is you are asking the judge to do that explains in a meaningful way what the issue is, and explains what the law is, and makes a principled and supported argument. “Do not assume that judges know what the case is about in the way that you do,” he said, elaborating that judges have hundreds of cases on their calendars. “I promise you that the best and smartest of them do not remember all their cases.” Cole continued, “There is a rule in our court of appeals that skeletal evidence-supported arguments are waived. That is something a lot of lawyers do not know.” Back to top One way to improve briefs: don’t use canned ones. “A canned brief signifies you’ve given the matter no thought at all, and you’re leaving it up to the judge to do all the work,” Cole said. “Explain why it’s meaningful. If the motion is worth making, it’s worth supporting.” Also regarding briefs, Cole advised lawyers to review what the deciding judge has said on the issue at hand. The judge will be more impacted by his own decisions than he will by the decisions of his fellow judges, Cole said. Other common sense tips from Cole: - Be courteous and professional. “Show sufficient respect for the system in which you are operating.”
- Listen to the judge, and answer her questions, rather than evade them. “Listening can turn a case around. If you can satisfy a judge’s question, you now have the upper hand.”
- Come to court yourself; don’t send an associate in your place. “Judges see hundreds of lawyers and it’s difficult to remember who’s who. If you’re in court with regularity, the judges tend to remember who you are, and you wind up getting a greater measure of credence to the things that you do and say.”
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