Three BIG Amicus Brief Mistakes

By Lawrence Ebner, Founder, Capital Appellate Advocacy PLLC Published in Friday Fives, Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel Filing amicus curiae briefs is a well-accepted part of practicing before the Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals, and many state appellate courts. If you really want to be a “friend of the court” — if you […]

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It’s Time For Attorneys & Courts To Use the Amended Expert Witness Rule

The Atlantic Legal Foundation long has been the nation’s leading advocate for use of sound science in judicial and regulatory proceedings. ALF’s advocacy in the famous Daubert trilogy of Supreme Court cases significantly contributed to the adoption of the reliability standard incorporated into Federal Rule of Evidence 702, which governs admissibility of testimony by expert witnesses. And ALF’s insistence

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Moving Forward With DRI’s Center for Law and Public Policy

It’s a privilege to be chairing DRI’s Center for Law and Public Policy at a time when so many challenges are confronting the civil litigation defense bar. The July/August 2003 edition of DRI’s For The Defense magazine includes a special section on The Center’s activities. Please read my introductory comments.

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Is A Federal District Judge’s Amicus Invitation To Junior Attorneys A Good Idea?

“What could be better than a federal judge’s open invitation that not only offers a junior attorney the incentive to be the principal author of a brie, but also the rare opportunity to present oral argument on behalf of an amicus curiae?” On March 21, 2023, Judge Lee P. Rudofsky of the U.S. District Court

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Is Mass Student Debt Cancellation Constitutional?

Almost all the 3 ½ hours of colloquy at the February 28, 2023 Supreme Court hearing on the student debt relief cases, Biden v. Nebraska, No. 22-506,  and U.S. Department of Education v. Brown, No. 22-535, was devoted to two issues: (1) whether the plaintiff states and/or individuals have standing to challenge the debt cancellation

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Widely Read Op-Ed Urges Eliminating Amicus Consent Requirement In Federal Appeals Courts

When the Supreme Court announced that effective January 1, 2023, it no longer will require the parties’ consent, or the Court’s permission, to file an amicus brief, Capital Appellate Advocacy founder Larry Ebner posted a short alert about this development on LinkedIn. After that alert – which proposed that that the same requirement be eliminated

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How To Draft An Amicus Brief That Actually Gets Read

“Writing amicus curiae (‘friend of the court’) briefs is my favorite activity as an appellate lawyer,” Capital Appellate Advocacy founder and Atlantic Legal Foundation Executive Vice President & General Counsel Larry Ebner explains at the beginning of  his recent article, How To Draft An Amicus Brief That Actually Gets Read.  Published by the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel in

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Justices Should Give Feds’ Roundup Amicus Little Weight

Law360 has published my sharply critical Expert Analysis of the amicus brief that the U.S. Solicitor General recently submitted to the Supreme Court in Monsanto Co. v. Hardeman, No. 21-241. My analysis explains that – “From the perspective of product liability defense attorneys, the brief from the solicitor general is a transparently partisan, short-sighted effort to

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Welcome News! The Supreme Court Proposes to Ditch the Amicus Brief Consent Requirement

The Supreme Court recently proposed to eliminate the requirement to obtain the parties’ consent, or the Court’s permission, to file an amicus brief. I have written a short insight piece for DRI’s new online publication, The Brief Case, about this important development. My article raises a fundamental point about amicus briefs: Since the purpose of

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Hispanic-Americans May Be the Real Victims of the Flanax Litigation

The following commentary was originally published by Jurist on November 5, 2021. My client, Jamie Belcastro, a registered pharmacist, started Belmora LLC, a small, Virginia-based company that sells nonprescription Flanax pain relief products, about 20 years ago. For much of this time Bayer AG, the multinational pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in Germany—whose gross revenues approach $

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