Research Guides : Florida Appellate Practice: Practice: Brief Writing and Oral Advocacy

Books Florida Appellate Practice

Florida Appellate Practice and Advocacy Seventh Edition by Raymond Elligett; John Scheb (As told to) Revised and updated one volume treatise on Florida civil appellate practice. Includes chapters on jurisdiction, preservation of issues, appeal mechanics, original proceedings, brief writing, oral argument, attorney's fees, professional responsibility, and disposition of appeals.
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Call Number: KFF555.E45 2015
ISBN: 514105934
Publication Date: 2015-06-01
Florida appellate practice by Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Effective appellate advocacy / Honorable Jorge Labarga -- Professional responsibility of appellate advocates / Raymon T. Elligett, Jr. -- Jurisdiction and review / Craig J. Trocino -- Supreme Court procedures and practices / Steven L. Brannock and Sarah Pellengarg -- Internal organization of the District Courts of Appeal / Jon S. Wheeler [and four others] -- Appellate standards of review / Harvey J. Sepler -- Civil appeals / Siobhan Helene Shea -- Administrative appeals / Stephen C. Emmanuel -- Criminal appeals and juvenile delinquency appeals / Michael Ufferman and Glen P. Gifford -- Overview of extraordinary writs / Siobhan Helene Shea -- Writ of certiorari in Florida / Valeria Hendricks -- Mandamus / Angela C. Flowers -- Prohibition / Tracy Raffles Gunn -- Quo Warranto / Nancy Wear -- Habeas corpus / Stuart C. Markman and Katherine Earle Yanes -- Orders subject to review / Matthew J. Conigliaro -- Stays / Julissa Rodriguez [and three others] -- The record on appeal / John G. Crabtree and Nancy Wear -- Preparation of briefs / Dorothy F. Easley -- Amicus briefs / Dorothy F. Easley -- Attorneys' fees / Tracy Raffles Gunn -- Motion practice / Valeria Hendricks and Jay Walter Thomas -- Oral argument / Honorable Steven D. Merryday -- Disposition of case after appeal / Susan W. Fox -- Indexes.
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Call Number: KFF555.F45 2017
ISBN: 1522123555
Publication Date: 2017
Advanced appellate practice & certification review by The Florida Bar Overview of appellate certification examination specifications / Christopher V. Carlyle (p. 1.1-1.8) -- Florida civil appellate practice: parts I and II / Steven L. Brannock (p. 2.1-2.98) -- Administrative appeals / Katherine E. Giddings (p. 3.1-3.22) -- Writs / Celene H. Humphries (p. 4.1-4.31) -- Florida criminal appeals / Paul Morris (p. 5.1-5.46) -- Federal appellate practice: parts I and II / Bryan S. Gowdy (p. 6.1-6.142) -- Significant recent appellate practice decisions / Matthew J. Conigliaro (p. 7.1-7.23).
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Call Number: KFF584.Z9A385 2016
Publication Date: 2016
Florida appellate practice guide by Appellate Practice and Advocacy Section, the Florida Bar
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Call Number: KFF555.F453
Publication Date: 1995-
Appellate practice--Florida practice series by Padovano, Philip J.
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Call Number: E-Book
Publication Date: 2013-

Checklist for Appellant Briefs in Florida

Chapter 6 includes a checklist for Appellate Briefs and General Petitions in the District Courts of Appeal.

Filing an Appeal

Brief Writing and Oral Advocacy

Legal Writing Style by Antonio Gidi; Henry Weihofen Legal Writing Style promotes the art of good writing by teaching students and practitioners the tools to make their prose clear, precise, simple, and forceful. With examples of what works and what doesn't, this short but comprehensive treatise provides an invaluable resource for recasting writing for maximum impact and ultimate success.
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Call Number: KF250.W4 2018
ISBN: 1634592964
Publication Date: 2018-03-28
Legal Writing and Analysis in a Nutshell by Bahrych, Lynn This book provides a ten-step guide to clear, precise, and effective legal writing and analysis for both law students and experienced lawyers. It gives the keys to writing legal memoranda and briefs, organizing analysis, crafting clear and concise sentences, using legal language accurately, using grammar and punctuation properly, writing persuasively using classical rhetorical techniques. The book describes a method for analyzing and improving individual writing style includes a sample analysis. It also includes new material on using plain English and new legal documents to illustrate effective writing techniques.
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Call Number: KF250.B34 2017
ISBN: 1634602811
Publication Date: 2017-02-17
The Complete Legal Writer by Alexa Z. Chew; Katie Rose Guest Pryal The Complete Legal Writer lives up to its name, providing everything legal research and writing professors and students need in a textbook, including citation literacy, research skills, writing process, a wide range of legal documents, and more. Using the cutting-edge Genre Discovery Approach, this book teaches students to guide themselves through the process of writing unfamiliar legal document types and thereby prepares students to write independently in upper-level classes and the workplace. To aid in teaching Genre Discovery, the authors provide three exacting samples of each document type covered in the book, a rhetorical analysis of each document type, and specific questions to guide students as they study the samples. The Complete Legal Writer covers document types that are traditionally taught in the first year, such as office memos and appellate briefs, as well as document types taught in upper-level and non-traditional first-year curricula, including trial briefs, demand letters, and employer blog posts. Furthermore, this book covers an essential skill for all legal writing classes: giving and receiving feedback. In addition to explaining how to give feedback to and receive feedback from peers, an important skill given the rise of peer-feedback practices in the LRW classroom, The Complete Legal Writer also covers how to receive and implement feedback from professors and workplace supervisors in order to improve both a particular document and future documents.
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Call Number: KF250.C46 2016
ISBN: 1611638127
Publication Date: 2016-01-06
Legal Drafting in a Nutshell by George Kuney; Donna Looper Legal Drafting in a Nutshell, 4th Edition, provides guidance on producing transactional documents, contracts, instruments, legislation, and regulations that solve existing problems and prevent future problems. The book provides both a large scale, macro overview of the drafting process as well as small scale, micro focused discussion of the mechanics of legal documents at the sentence, word, and punctuation level. For this fourth edition, each chapter has been extensively updated to incorporate the current and developing perspectives regarding subjects like plain English, legal typography, and document preparation in the 21st century. This is especially the case in the sections of the text dealing with contracts and instruments, although it is true throughout the text. Legal drafting is as much a thought process as a writing process; clear thinking leads to clear drafting. This book is a guide for clear, structured thinking about drafting in order to provide readers with a structured process to follow when assembling useful legal documents.
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Call Number: KF250.H33 2016
ISBN: 1634603192
Publication Date: 2016-10-06
Eleventh circuit appellate practice institute by The Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Committee Eleventh Circuit technicalities: how to comply with the new expanded record excerpts, electronic filing, and other requirements / Steven E. Butler, Bryan S. Gowdy, Chet Kaufman. Moderator: Leland H. Kynes (p. 1.1-1.45) -- Writing effective briefs to the Eleventh Circuit / Charles R. Wilson, Adalberto Jordan, Joyce White Vance, Barry A. Ragsdale. Moderator: Ramona C. Albin (p. 2.1)(checklist) -- What the clerk's office wants you to know / John Ley (3.1-3.5) -- Tips for presenting oral argument before the Eleventh Circuit / Stanley Marcus, William H. Pryor, Jr., David P. Rhodes. Moderator: Amy Levin Weil (p. 4.1-4.8) -- Live Eleventh Circuit Oral Argument 'Aguiar v. Natbony' (subject: sanctions in $1.1 billion case) / Advocates: Miguel A. Estrada, Laurie Webb Daniel (5.1-5.59)(reprints of appellant opening brief, appellees brief, response brief and reply brief) -- United States Supreme Court update / Michael R. Dreeben, Catherine Stetson (p. 6.1-6.20) -- Making the most of mediation / Joe N. Unger, Beth Greenfield-Mandler (p. 7.1-7.13) -- Navigating class action appeals / Joseph H. Lang, Jr., Raoul G. Cantero (p. 8.1-8.7).
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Call Number: KFF555.E54 2013
Publication Date: c2013
Writing and Analysis in the Law by Helene S. Shapo; Marilyn Walter; Elizabeth Fajans A standard-setter in American legal education, Writing and Analysis in the Law provides a guide to legal writing, focusing on the importance of clear organization in written communications. Developed as a textbook for a first-year law school course, and is successful in courses for foreign LLM students, the book introduces law students to analyzing and writing about legal authority in cases and statutes. It discusses the structure and persuasive techniques of effective argumentation. The book makes effective use of high-quality and illustrative examples and writing exercises. It also includes access to helpful PowerPoint slides for use in the classroom and class preparation. Lucid, compact, and up-to-date, this work consistently draws acclaim in law schools across the country. The sixth edition has been streamlined and designed to be reader friendly: it uses white space, bullet points, tabulation, and headings that chunk information to enable student to grasp information efficiently.
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Call Number: KF250.S5 2013
ISBN: 1609302729
Publication Date: 2013-05-07
Federal Appellate Practice by Philip Allen Lacovara; James E. Barz; Mayer, Brown & Platt Staff (Contribution by) Introduction / Philip Allen Lacovara -- Preserving issues for appeal / Lauren R. Goldman -- Appeal jurisdiction / Richard M. Dow., Jr., James C. Schroeder -- Motions / Michele L. Odorizzi, Andrew Tauber -- Discretionary interlocutory appeals and mandamus / Andrew H. Schapiro -- Review of administrative agency decisions / David M. Gossett, Erika Z. Jones, Adam C. Sloane-- The record on appeal and the appendix / Joel D. Bertocchi -- Effective brief writing / Miriam R. Nemetz, Evan M. Tager -- The opening brief / Jeffrey W. Sarles, Andrew L. Frey -- The response brief / Demetrios G. Metropoulous -- The reply brief / Donald M. Falk -- Amicus curiae briefs / Dan Himmelfarb, Andrew J. Pincus -- Oral argument / Andrew L. Frey, Eileen Penner -- Rehearing / Charles A. Rothfeld -- Costs and attorneys' fees / Jeremy J. Gaston -- Criminal appeals / James E. Barz, Andrew A. Schapiro -- The federal circuit / Donald M. Falk, Sharon A. Israel, Claudia Wilson Frost -- Considering Supreme Court review / Timothy S. Bishop, Kenneth S. Geller, J. Brett Busby-- Appendix[es]. A. Overview of federal rules of appellate procedure ; B. Overview of circuit court (local) rules ; C. Federal rules of appellate practice.
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Call Number: KF9050.F43 2008
ISBN: 1570186693
Publication Date: 2008-11-01
Just Briefs, Second Edition by Laurel Currie Oates This text retains the strengths that made it so successful in its first edition: - helps students understand the features unique to brief writing and how to apply them in practice - includes helpful examples of trial and appellate briefs - provides unique coverage of brief writing by itself, for students who need extra help and guidance, or for instructors who want to add extra coverage of this area to their current legal writing text - features the straightforward, step-by-step writing style that has made the Legal Writing Handbook so successful - offers a Teacher's Manual that includes sample syllabi, class plans, and new handouts and suggested brief problems - the Author Website contains materials on effective teaching, sample class plans, PowerPoint slides, and suggested problems - professors who adopt Just Briefs can use the online diagnostic exam Now in its Second Edition, this companion text offers additional great features: - it is now more useful to students competing in moot court competitions because moot court competitions tend to examine federal issues that require federal law, the authors have updated the chapter on drafting appellate briefs, focusing on writing a brief for a federal court rather than a state court - a Practice Pointers feature provides students with useful real world advice
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Call Number: KF251.O18 2008
ISBN: 0735562318
Publication Date: 2008-02-13
Effective Appellate Advocacy by Carole C. Berry Text is designed to be helpful particularly to lawyers inexperienced in appellate advocacy. The analysis begins with an overview of appellate procedure and then examines the concept of persuasion. Explores the constructs of solid brief writing and oral argument, and provides exercises in preparing a persuasive document as well as an effective and convincing oral argument. Coverage includes: the decision to appeal, technicalities of the appeal, a primer on persuasion, preparation and writing the opening brief, appellee and reply briefs, preliminary considerations before argument, preparation for and presentation of the oral argument, post-argument memoranda, and briefs and petitions for rehearing.
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Call Number: KF251.B43 2009
ISBN: 0314145850
Publication Date: 2005-11-09

Articles on Appellate Brief Writing

You Had Me at Hello: Examining the Impact of Powerful Introductory Emotional Hooks Set Forth in Appellate Briefs Filed in Recent Hotly Contested U.S. Supreme Court Decisions This Article posits that powerful emotional hooks set forth in introductory paragraphs in stellar briefs-emotional hooks that often have nothing at all to do with the merits of the case--do certainly play a role in the determination of hotly contested Supreme Court decisions. As a practical matter, there often are two ways to frame an issue legitimately. In this circumstance-when both sides could be correct-why is it surprising that pathos might tip the scales?
Summing it up with Panache: Framing a Brief's Summary of the Argument Experts have called an appellate briefs summary of the argument section "the most important part of a brief,"' its "structural centerpiece," and "your first serious opportunity to argue the merits of your appeal." Two theories, framing theory and priming theory, help explain why the summary is so important. Framing theorists define a frame as a mental structure that provides a lens through which a recipient will "locate, perceive, identify, and label" an experience. The way a point is framed affects what readers focus on when forming their opinions. A similar concept, priming theory, holds that exposinga reader to chosen information "plants a seed in the brain." Because the summary of the argument appears near the beginning of a brief, it allows the legal advocate to take advantage of both framing and priming to begin to convince the Court. Thus, it's a mistake for an advocate to treat the section as an afterthought.
Changing Fashions in Advocacy: 100 Years of Brief-Writing Advice American appellate practice is accomplished mainly through the written word, and there seems to be a modem consensus about what constitutes a good appellate brief. Books, articles, and continuing legal education materials tell the appellate advocate to be succinct, to organize arguments clearly, and to present facts and law truthfully yet persuasively. The ideal appellate advocate is a careful strategist and accurate researcher who writes crisply and credibly. The power of emotional or narrative arguments has not been stressedalthough this may be changing-because appellate judges are presumed to be less emotional than juries. As one who teaches advocacy, and who has practiced in appellate courts, I wondered about the historical roots of the modem consensus of advice. Has the accepted approach to brief writing always been thus? A survey of brief-writing advice from the last century shows that neither ideas about brief writing nor those about the appellate brief itself have been static.
The Seven Virtues of Appellate Brief Writing: An Update From the Bench The heart of effective appellate advocacy is a well-written brief Judges rely on the briefs to decipher the parties' positions in the weeks spent preparing for oral argument. A poorly written brief can interfere with the panel's preparation and do a disservice to the client by failing to state clearly the legal issues and their proposed resolution. A poorly written brief may cause the panel to dispense with oral argument because the poor quality of the brief suggests that oral argument by its author will not assist the court in reaching a decision. Furthermore, many appellate cases are decided without oral argument on the strengths of the parties' written briefs. For all of these reasons, effective written advocacy is of paramount importance.

Articles from SSRN

Appellate Advocacy: My Latest Take (2016) In this article, a follow up to his 2011 article entitled “Writing Up the Facts and Winning Big: Some Secrets of the Best Writers of Legal Submissions” (online: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2769588), an appellate judge offers further advice about written and oral advocacy and how to cater to the needs and characteristics of appellate judges.
Opening an Oral Argument before the Supreme Court: The Decline of Narrative's Role In contrast to an earlier era, today's oral advocate can expect Supreme Court justices to start asking questions earlier and often. Consequently, the advocate should expect to launch the argument with only a few sentences before the questions begin. These critical sentences offer the brief opportunity to introduce the theme of the subsequent argument. Advocates in other "hot bench" courts face the same challenge. Our study of opening statements in Supreme Court oral arguments finds that the statements have one of three themes: a conventional legal argument, a policy argument, or a narrative argument. The conventional legal argument is the most common, followed by the policy argument, followed by the narrative argument. The dearth of narrative arguments - even as supplementary arguments - can have adverse consequences for the advocate seeking to be persuasive and the Court seeking to decide the case properly.
'Too Many Notes'? An Empirical Study of Advocacy in Federal Appeals The warp and woof of American law are threaded by the appellate courts, generating precedents on constitutional provisions, statutory texts, and common-law doctrines. While the product of the appellate courts is regularly the subject of empirical study, less attention has been given to the sources and methods of appellate advocacy. Given the paramount place of written briefs in the appellate process, we should examine seriously the frequent complaint by appellate judges that briefs are too long and that prolixity weakens persuasive power. In a study of civil appeals in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, we discover that, for appellants, briefs of greater length are strongly correlated with success on appeal. For the party challenging an adverse decision below, persuasive completeness may be more important than condensed succinctness. The underlying cause of both greater appellant success and accompanying longer briefs may lie in the typically complex nature of the reversible civil appeal. In light of our findings, the current proposal to reduce the limits on number of words in federal appellate briefs may cut more sharply against appellants. Experienced appellate advocates submit that familiarity with appellate courts, the honed ability to craft the right arguments with the appropriate style in briefing, and expertise in navigating the appellate system provide superior legal representation to clients. Our study lends support to this claim. We found a positive correlation between success and experience for lawyers representing appellees, thus warranting further study of lawyer specialization.
The Behavioral Psychology of Appellate Persuasion This article uses behavioral psychology research to work backward from how appellate decisions are made to how oral argument, briefing, and argument design can have the maximum impact on the decision makers. Appellate judges are human beings who have the same basic cognitive processes as any others. Understanding these decision-making processes is the key to understanding how to best utilize the few minutes of argument and few pages of briefing that you have to affect what the decision in a case will say. In addition to illuminating the most effective ways to communicate, it also provides insight into how best design arguments that will be intuitively appealing and how to properly evaluate opposing arguments. Finally, it examines the natural biases that must be overcome by advocates to critically evaluate outcomes to determine how to improve future performance.
Rhetoric and Advocacy This is an excerpt of Chapter 2 of Murray and DeSanctis’s, Advanced Legal Writing and Oral Advocacy: Trials, Appeals, and Moot Court (Foundation Press, forthcoming, December 2013). The goal of the chapter is to teach law students to: frame arguments to the best advantage of the client; deliver a persuasive, logical argument by way of its structure, its style of discourse, and its contents; target the values and preferences of the audience through a careful consideration of the emotional impact of the discourse; project competence, mastery of the material, and trustworthiness through the contents of the discourse; and discover the best possible modes of persuasion to address the issues and requirements of the situation at hand.
Advanced Argumentation: Introductions, Facts, Arguments, and Conclusions Legal writing hasn't changed much in the last four years, but the legal world and the legal writing and advocacy book market certainly have. Law schools are responding to massive changes in the legal employment market that call for deeper, more intensive, client-centered, and practice-oriented training in legal writing and advocacy. Law students and legal employers are demanding practice-ready training in lawyering skills. In the new edition of Advanced Legal Writing and Advocacy: Trials, Appeals, and Moot Court, authors Michael D. Murray (Valparaiso) and Christy H. DeSanctis (George Washington) have taken the original text and redesigned it to provide a new focus on modern advocacy that blends rhetoric and storytelling with synthesis and advanced argumentation techniques to make the book a more powerful resource for training practice-ready lawyers. The new chapter - Advanced Argumentation: Introductions, Facts, Arguments, and Conclusions - provides instruction and examples for drafting each of the major sections of appellate briefs.
Stepping Up to the Podium with Confidence: A Primer for Law Students on Preparing and Delivering an Appellate Oral Argument Virtually all law students are required to learn oral advocacy skills at some point during their legal education. Typically, these skills are cultivated through at least one oral argument assignment, which often consists of an appellate oral argument that is given as part of the students' first-year legal research and writing course or as part of a moot court competition. While appellate courts do not grant oral argument as often as they used to, oral advocacy remains a critical skill for law students to learn and cultivate, no matter which facet of law practice they enter upon graduation. Unfortunately, the prospect of learning this critical skill can be disquieting to students. Students may, however, ease their anxiety and ultimately deliver an excellent oral argument if they fully understand the purposes of the argument and if they thoroughly prepare for the argument. This article is targeted at oral argument novices. It discusses how a beginner to appellate oral argument may effectively prepare and deliver an argument, particularly if the argument is given as part of a law school's legal research and writing course or as part of a moot court competition.