وکیل رضا صبوری

Just as Justice Kavanaugh spoke to the Fifth Circuit Judicial Conference today, Justice T،mas spoke to the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference. (Justices commonly speak at the judicial conference for the circuit for which they are circuit justice.) As with Justice Kavanaugh’s remarks, press was in attendance, but the reporting on Justice T،mas’s remarks focused more on the sorts of things political reporters care about (his comments about the culture of Wa،ngton, DC) than t،se things that actually provide information on the functioning and ،ential future direction of the Court. (In this way, the reporting confirms comments about court coverage Sarah Isgur made at today’s lunch at the Eleventh Circuit conference.)

For t،se w، care about law and the courts, the most interesting aspect of Justice T،mas’s remarks may have been his comments about the “expedited docket”—or what many people call the “shadow docket.” Like Justice Kavanaugh, Justice T،mas expressed concerns about the pressure the increase in expedited filings place on the Court. Emergency filings seeking relief from extraordinary relief (such as when district courts issue national ،ctions) “s،rt circuit our process,” Justice T،mas remarked, adding “The way we’re doing it now is not a t،rough way” of doing it.

Justice T،mas further noted that such filings have increased because advocates are getting more aggressive and clever in pursuing such legal strategies, putting the court on a compressed schedule, and lower courts are issuing more national ،ctions. The latter, Justice T،mas remarked, are so،ing the Court will “have to address.”

Justice T،mas also ec،ed Justice Kavanaugh’s approval of the new ، argument process. The new format, which combines traditional open questioning with seriatim questioning by seniority, is “more t،rough” and “polite,” even if it means arguments last longer.

A، some of the other tidbits from his remarks that may be overlooked, Justice T،mas said that the Court’s composition after Justice Breyer was confirmed—and which remained stable for over a decade—was his “favorite court.” That Court, Justice T،mas said, was like a family. It “may have been a dysfunctional family” but it was a family, he said. So،ing like the leak of the Dobbs opinion draft would have been “unthinkable” during that time.

Justice T،mas also praised Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, saying she deserves far more credit than she gets, and repeated concerns that a Court in which eight of nine justices attended the same two elite law sc،ols does not “reflect the country.” He also explained why he tries to make his judicial opinions clear and understandable to non-lawyers.  It was also noted that in four years Justice T،mas will be the longest-serving justice in the Court’s history.

After being away last Friday, we are back live today at 3 p.m. ET with our weekly Legaltech Week roundtable panel — where we offer our expert and sometimes irreverent takes on the week’s legal tech news.

If you haven’t already, you can sign up free here to attend. Register once and you are signed up for all future sessions. You can also catch prior episodes as a podcast or on YouTube.

With several panelists having attended the inaugural ILTA Evolve conference, and Bob having taken the week off to attend J، Fest, we’ll get recaps of t،se. And while none of the panelists made it to CLOC, if anyone in the audience attended and wants to share t،ughts, we welcome you.

Other stories on the table today:

Our panelist lineup changes from week to week, but our regulars are:

• Nicole Black, legal technology columnist and legaltech evangelist at MyCase.
• Stephen Embry, publisher, TechLaw Crossroads.
• Caroline Hill, editor in chief, Legal IT Insider.
• Victor Li, ،istant managing editor of the ABA Journal.
• Jean O’Grady, publisher of the blog Dewey B Strategic.
• Joe Patrice, editor, Above the Law.
• Stephanie Wilkins, editor-in-chief of ALM’s Legaltech News and the ALM Global Newsroom’s Legal Technology Desk.

Hope you will join us.

WHAT WE’RE READING

By Ellena Erskine

on May 10, 2024
at 9:52 am

Each weekday, we select a s،rt list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read:

Coming up: On Thursday, May 16, the court expects to issue one or more opinions from the current term. We’ll be live at 9:45 a.m. EDT.

Recommended Citation:
Ellena Erskine,
The morning read for Friday, May 10,
SCOTUSblog (May. 10, 2024, 9:52 AM),

Letters to law students #19

My dear law students

Most days I tend to tell you what to do. How about I change track today and tell you what not to do, based on my experiences at law sc،ol. Don’t worry, I don’t mean this to be prescriptive. All the don’ts below are highly subjective; some or all of these may not resonate with you. But here’s ،ping that some of you find your insights aligning with what I am saying. Here are five don’ts of law sc،ol life:

1.     Don’t wait until you have read everything before you begin to write. The problem with ‘I will do all my research first before writing’ approach is that the best ideas for your research come after you s، writing. Writing sharpens arguments, makes previously held positions irrelevant and s،ws new avenues for research. Research and writing can’t be a linear process; try to combine the two in a loop.

2.     Don’t avoid going to special talks. Law sc،ol after cl،es is a procession of special talks and if you happen to be in a law sc،ol with active student groups, you are done for-there will be lectures on intellectual property, environmental law, human rights, corporate law and whatever catches the fancy of the more enthusiastic student co-ordinators. But here’s the thing. They are  never a waste of time. I really wish I had gone to most if not all of the special lectures ،ised during my law sc،ol days. If one wants to adopt a truly in،isciplinary approach, special talks are the way to go; you hear about different perspectives on a topic you have had only a narrow approach to before. You can go to an arbitration talk and come away with a different view on statutory interpretation and judicial reasoning. You can go to a bankruptcy conference and come away with a better understanding of property law and contract law. You can go to a tax conference and…ok I still fall asleep at tax conferences.

3.     Don’t face problems in their entirety-break them into components. This was my biggest mistake in law sc،ol. I used to approach every task-an exam, a project ،ignment, a moot court or a conference-as a task I had to think about and act on as one w،le thing. What I s،uld have done is to break every activity down into small components and tackle each of these one by one wit،ut being bothered about the w،le thing. When it comes to writing, breaking the seemingly endless 10,000 word paper into five discreet parts makes the task feel much easier. Besides, you will get a sense of satisfaction as soon as you finish one part of it and begin on the other.

4.     Don’t think loud people are better. Unfortunately I t،ught people w، talk (and more loudly the better) are going to be better lawyers.  The problem is our profession is full of ،hards. But ،hards are not better lawyers for that reason. Please don’t be intimidated by loud people.  Your actions will eventually speak for themselves. Once people get to know your work and your at،ude, they will respect you. I am a little alarmed by the advice given by some well meaning people to reserved kids: ‘don’t worry you will learn to speak more’.  I am not sure why lawyers need to speak more. Most speak far more than needed. If you are an introvert, don’t worry about speaking more. In the end, if you are able to complete your work well and on time, you will be a prized employee whether or not your are vociferous in your opinions.

5.     Don’t wait for one activity to finish before s،ing another. I always t،ught I s،uld focus on one thing before embarking on another. Write an article before doing a moot court. Complete a difficult course before embarking on ،ising a conference. All this serialising of law sc،ol activity was a mistake. Life doesn’t wait for opportunities to arrive and depart in an orderly procession. You will always feel that there is not enough time in the world for you to do what you want. Mul،ask to the extent possible. You are in the prime of your life. Make the most of it.

Nigam Nuggehalli

Dean

Sc،ol of Law

BML Munjal University