Appellate Issues

Courts & Judiciary

Judicial Courage, Judicial Heroes, and the Civil Rights Movement

By Alyssa Cochran

When we hear the names of iconic judges, such as Judge Minor Wisdom or Judge Elbert Tuttle, our minds jump to thoughts of greatness, admiration, and courage. During the 1950s through the 1970s, a critical period of the civil rights movement, a handful of judges courageously sided with equal justice and the rule of law over racist customs and cultural norms. Panelist, Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, Judge Myron H. Thompson, and Anna M. Manasco, Ph.D., J.D., of Bradley, Arant, Boult, Cummings, LLP, led by moderator Judge Jill A. Pryor, provided insight into the life and legacy of judicial heroes in the civil rights movement.

Editor's Note

By Nancy M. Olson

Following tradition, this issue recaps the AJEI Summit, held in November 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. The issue features a boundless variety of articles written by an array of talented authors, capturing the essence of both the quality of AJEI programming and the talents of our Council of Appellate Lawyer members.

Courts & Judiciary

Choose Me! Maximizing Your Chances for Discretionary Review

By Virginia Hinrichs McMichael

A packed room greeted the panelists at the 2018 AJEI Conference in Atlanta for a breakout session focused on tips for increasing the likelihood of obtaining discretionary review. The informative discussion was punctuated by the sounds of a jazz band warming up in an adjacent conference room, the discordant notes adding levity to the otherwise businesslike session.

Courts & Judiciary

You Know What Really Gets My Goat...?

By Steve Emmert

You know they do it privately. Judges talk to other judges, complaining about clueless lawyers. Lawyers can’t wait to gripe to their colleagues about the grumpy judges they’re forced to endure. But these gossip sessions occur in confidence. On Friday, November 9, 2018, AJEI pulled back the curtain on all this fussin’ in a breakout session entitled, “The No-Contempt Zone: Judges and Practitioners Share What Each Wishes the Other Knew.”

Courts & Judiciary

Reply Briefs: Making the Last Word Count

By Devin Dolive

As part of the 2018 AJEI Summit, three sitting appellate judges shared thoughts and personal observations regarding reply briefs. Attorney Roger Townsend of Houston, Texas moderated a panel presentation entitled “Effective Reply Brief Strategies: Making the Last Word Count.”

Lawyer Wellness

#MeToo: Sexual Harassment in the Courtroom

By Sharlene Koonce

The courthouse, like any other workplace, is not immune from issues and incidents of sexual harassment. A breakout panel at the 2018 Appellate Judges Education Institute (AJEI) Summit titled, “#MeToo/Best Practices for Appellate Courts to Address Past and Avoid Future Sexual Harassment Claims,” focused on this critical issue.

Big Data & Cloud Computing

Artificial Intelligence Invades Appellate Practice: The Here, The Near, and The Oh My Dear

By Richard C. Kraus

What is artificial intelligence and what do lawyers and judges need to know about it? The legal profession has already started to adopt new AI-based systems for uses such as legal research, document review, contract analysis, and outcome prediction. Those are the “here” and “near” of AI in law. As with many new technologies, AI has been overhyped, creating false expectations and fears that legal skills, human judgment, experience, and interpersonal skills will someday become outdated.

Business Development

Diversity at The Appellate Level

By M. Courtney Koger

Diversity – or lack thereof – among lead appellate counsel was the topic at this AJEI session. This panel was moderated by Michelle Sharpe Silverthorn, formerly the Diversity and Education Director for the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism and currently the Founder and CEO of Inclusion Nation.

Courts & Judiciary

Reproductive Genetics: Ethics and the Law

By Leah L. Seigel

Much of what makes the content so consistently rich at the Appellate Judges Education Institute is that rather than merely provide attendees with quick and easy tips for practice, presenters opt to take their willing audience on a deep dive into complicated and relevant topics, routinely raising many more questions than answers.

General Practice

At the Heart of Persuasive Writing: Rhetoric Theory from Aristotle to Toulmin

By Jill Wheaton

The goal of this session was to use ideas behind old and new rhetoric theory to improve legal writing. Prof. Tim Terrell of Emory University Law School presented this panel, beginning with this formula: persuasive effort needed = distance x resistance.

Professional Development

Bridging Ideological Chasms—In Life and in the Conference Room: What Would George Washington Do?

By Deborah P. Heald

Bridging ideological divides in our increasingly hostile political environment may at times feel like a Sisyphean task. But the path forward may very well be charted by looking into the rearview mirror – examining the values that the Founding Fathers sought to instill in our government in its infancy.

Courts & Judiciary

Is Constitutional Law, Law?

By Jaletta Long Smith

Constitutional interpretation is one of the most high-profile aspects of the Court’s docket, at least in terms of news cycles and public opinion at large. The Court’s power to interpret our Constitution is critical to keeping the faith in our governing system alive. And with an ever-increasing number of self-proclaimed “textualists” on the bench, our Court’s interpretation of the Constitution is increasingly constrained by text, history, and precedent. Or is it?

Private Defense

Untested Forensic Sciences Present Trouble in the Courtroom

By Matthew Scherb

Lawyers often practice law to avoid science. But science has an enduring role to play in revealing truth at trial. And lax science in the courtroom is dangerous. It had led judges and juries to accept bogus methods as accurate, and overstated conclusions as irrefutable fact.

Private Defense

Supreme Court Criminal Review

By Raffi Melkonian

Erwin Chemerinsky—Professor and Dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Law—is a justly famed speaker. For one thing, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of Supreme Court jurisprudence, both today and in the past. Simply put, he understands the Supreme Court, its cases, and its personalities in a way few others can match, and for that reason alone deserves his audience’s rapt attention.