Law Commons^™

Sanctions For Evading Maximum Page Limits On Court Filings, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Judge Marrero joins a growing lineup of judges who have imposed or threatened sanctions on counsel for attempting to evade court rules that set maximum page limits on briefs, memoranda, and other filings. Orders and reported opinions catalogue various strategies, including these: presenting the main text in a font smaller than the court's required font; presenting the main text with spacing less than required double spacing; using excessive footnotes, often single-spaced or in small fonts; or narrowing required margins on the sides, the top, or the bottom of pages.

The Pesky Serial Comma, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

The "serial comma" - sometimes called the "Oxford comma" or the "Harvard comma"- comes immediately before a conjunction that separates the last of three or more elements in a series. For example, consider the trio "ready, willing, and able." Consider too "win, lose, or draw." The serial comma is the one immediately before the "and" or the "or." In statutes or private arrangements, a comma's presence (or, as in O'Connor, its absence) may hold high stakes for litigants.

References To Spring's Championship Sports In Judicial Opinions And Written Advocacy, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

t'he courts' own careful use of sports references invites advocates to carefully use sports references in the-i briefs and other written submissions. With the post-season playoffs and the World Series holding sports fans' attention, I wrote in the journal's September-October 2016 issue about the role of baseball references in judicial opinions and written advocacy. As attention turned to post-season playoffs and the Super Bowl, I wrote in the January-February 2017 issue about football references.

The trilogy of articles concludes here with sampling of judges' recent references to four sports that hit high notes every Spring Basketball, with the National Basketball …

References To Football In Judicial Opinions And Written Advocacy, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Writing for the Court,Justice Elena Kagan explained that the dual bases of liability, recited in Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933, are not "an invitation to Monday morning quarterback an issuer's opinions" if the opinions later prove incorrect. The Court thus spurned second-guessing from the relative comfort of hindsight. With her nod to football, justice Kagan employed a rhetorical technique that justices and lower federal and state judges have employed with increased frequency since the early 1970s. In cases with no claims or defenses concerning sports, written opinions help decide or explain issues of law or fact with …