Call him mister and show a little respect

I was finalizing a brief yesterday and a memory came to me from an oral argument before the Fort Worth Court of Appeals that made me change something last minute.  In my brief, I had referred to an expert by last name only.  For instance, I called him “Jones” instead of Mr. Jones, as I was exploring the fallacies in his opinions.  But, just before I hit save and print, I remembered something.  The last time I was before the Fort Worth Court of Appeals, my opponent referred to a witness by last name only and one of the justices took offense.  He reprimanded the lawyer and told her to please be respectful and refer to the witness as Mr. _____.  So, I revised my brief just to avoid a situation like that or just in case I might inadvertently offend a justice.  That is not something you’ll learn in law school or that you will see in the Rules of Civil Procedure.  But, respect is something we should always consider in how we write or argue.

E-filing soon required at TX Supreme Court – saving us cost and frustration????

Earlier this month, I was getting ready to file a response to a Petition for Writ of Mandamus with the Texas Supreme Court.  When it came time to file, I had to make a decision: e-file or file hard copies.  My first inclination was to just file paper briefs.  I figured that would save me the frustration of dealing with the e-file system.  But, priding myself on running a paper free (as best as I can) office, I thought better of the decision.  I decided to deal with the frustration, learn the e-filing system, and just file electronically.  And that is what I did.  But, in doing so I realized — it really makes no difference.  Why?  Because if you e-file, you have to deliver extra paper copies to the court by the next business day.  And, if you file paper briefs, you have to email an electronic copy to the Court.  The only real benefit I found with e-filing was that I did save the cost of making a few extra copies.  I saved one very very small tree.  And, I guess my Fed Ex package was a little lighter than it otherwise would have been.  So, there was some cost savings too.

Saving appellate practitioners and those dabbling in the appellate arts the challenge of making the decision I had to make, the Texas Supreme Court is making e-filing mandatory as for September 12th.  My only request to the great Court in the future is to find a way to save us non-Austin lawyers the Fed Ex expense by requiring paper copies be mailed to the Court within the next week (instead of the next day).  Really, we know the Court is not going to be looking at the briefs anytime soon, anyway.

For Don Cruse’s article detailing the e-filing requirements, click here.