The Wrong Stuff: How to Lose Appeals in the Court of Appeal

• Author: Marvin Catzman
• Pages: 283-291

The

Wrong

Stuff1

How to

Lose

[Editors'

Note:

For

maximum enjoyment, read

the

notes

with

the

text.]

I

used

to

teach

appellate

advocacy.

There

were very

few of us in the field

then.

I

cannot remember whether

we

taught

it

well

or

badly,

but it

did-

n't

matter, because

we

were

the

only game

in

town.

These

days, however,

it

seems

as if

everyone

and

her2

sister3

is

teaching appellate advocacy. People write books

and

give speeches

and

run

seminars about

it. The

Advocates'

Society

Journal

even dedicated

a

whole issue

to

it.4

So the

area

is no

longer

my

private preserve:

it has

been taken over

by

other,

and

better, teachers.

Mr.

Justice

Marvin

Catzman,

Court

of

Appeal

for

Ontario.

1

I

wish

I

could

say

that this

title

originated with

me, but I

can't.

It was the

title

that

Alex

Kozinski

of the

Ninth Circuit Court

of

Appeals

gave

to a

paper

he

delivered

to

a

meeting

of the

State

Bar of

Montana

in

1997.

But it was

such

a

great name that

I

decided

to

steal

it and

pass

it off as my

own.

2

This

is a

gender-sensitive paper.

If

"her" offends you,

read

"his."

3

Or, if you

prefer, "brother":

see

note

2.

4

Summer

Issue,

August

1999,

vol.

18,

no. 2. The

issue

contained articles

by

Fin-

layson

j.A.

and

Laskin

J.A.,

who are

members

of the

Ontario Court

of

Appeal,

and

by

Binnie

J. and

Blair

J., who

aren't,

but who

apparently know

a

little

about

advoca-

cy.

They

all got

their pictures

on the

cover. That's more than

I got for

this piece.

[Editors'

note:

All of

these fine

pieces

are

reprinted

in

this

volume.]

283

Appeals

in the

Court

of

Appeal

Justice

Marvin

Catzman