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138 Apellate Judges Can't Be Wrong
By David Lewis
What I Learned When I Asked Appellate Judges About Their Advocacy Preferences
Several years ago, I began investigating the attitudes of appellate
judges regarding various aspects of appellate advocacy. My interest in
their responses was both professional and personal: I have been
litigating civil and criminal appeals for a number of years, find them
extremely interesting and challenging, and am always striving to make
myself better at them. I also assist other lawyers who litigate appeals
less often than I do and I try to make my advice as helpful and informed
as possible.
I learned several interesting lessons from the survey data I collected.
While much of what I learned was confirmatory, a few things I learned
were more of a surprise. In this article, I will display a selection of
the data concerning the things I learned that I would characterize as
the most important to remember as you are writing your next appellate
brief. Before moving on to the data, how
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