Appellate Advocacy (LAW-847-001)
Judith Bartnoff
Meets: 02:30 PM - 05:20 PM (Th)
Enrolled: 8 / Limit: 16
Notices
There are no notices at this time.
Description
This course is intended to introduce students to the appellate process, with a focus primarily on practice in the federal Circuit Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as the D.C. Court of Appeals. Each student will write a bench memo and an appellate brief and will prepare and deliver an oral argument. Students also will be assigned to serve with me on the judicial panels that will preside over the oral arguments. Students also will review the briefs and watch or listen to oral arguments in selected pending or decided appellate cases, and there may be other short writing assignments relating to those court observations and reviews of the briefs. The course will cover the jurisdiction and structure of federal appellate courts, procedures in the federal appellate courts and the Supreme Court, doctrines governing access to federal appellate courts, standards and scope of review on appeal, the roles of law clerks, litigants, and judges in appellate decision-making, and effective brief-writing and oral advocacy.
Textbooks and Other Materials
The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.
There is no textbook for this class. Articles and other readings are included in the course packet, which is posted on Canvas. Briefs in pending Supreme Court cases are available on Scotusblog.com. Decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal appellate courts, and the D.C. Court of Appeals are available on Westlaw. Any additional materials will be posted on Canvas, or a citation or link to them will be posted.
First Class Readings
Patricia Wald, 19 Tips from 19 Years on the Appellate Bench, 1 Journal of Appellate Practice and Process 7 (1999).
Alex Kozinsky, The Wrong Stuff, 1992 BYU L. Rev. 325 (1999).
Syllabus
Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):
Microsoft Word 2007 (DOCX)