Among the many programs offered at this year\u2019s Rhode Island Bar Association Annual Meeting was a continuing legal education program titled \u201cDos and Don\u2019ts of Appellate Practice.\u201d\u00a0 The panel, moderated by my colleague, John Tarantino, 2012-2013 chair of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Bench\/Bar Committee, featured Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Suttell and Justices Goldberg and Indeglia.\u00a0 This edition of the Fast Five details some of the salient points made and advice given by the panelists.<\/p>\n
The April 2013 edition of the Fast Five on Rhode Island Appellate Practice noted that in two decisions this term, the Rhode Island Supreme Court appended to its decisions illustrations to help explain the basis for its decisions.\u00a0 See<\/i> DeMaio v. Ciccone, No. 2011-211-Appeal (R.I. Feb. 1, 2013)<\/a>; Rhode Island Mobile Sportfishermen, Inc. v. Nope\u2019s Island Conservation Association, Inc., No. 2011-180-Appeal (R.I. Jan. 31, 2013)<\/a>.<\/p>\n During the Rhode Island Bar Association\u2019s Annual Meeting, three justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court indicated that demonstratives may be appropriate and useful during oral argument in particular cases.\u00a0 Examples of demonstratives that the Court has found helpful include charts and plat maps demonstrating the location of a right of way.<\/p>\n The justices advised practitioners to ensure that their demonstratives are legible and to advise the Court Clerk of their intention to use demonstratives.\u00a0 In complex cases, practitioners may need to seek an advanced ruling from the Court giving them permission to utilize demonstratives.<\/p>\n During the Bar Association\u2019s Annual Meeting, Chief Justice Suttell offered advice to appellate practitioners looking to improve their brief writing.<\/p>\n He advised that practitioners should strive to present the facts in an interesting (but not cute) way.\u00a0 His recommendation on how to do that:\u00a0 read Hemingway\u2019s short stories to put you in the right frame of mind.<\/p>\n Appendices are governed by Rule 17 of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Rules of Appellate Procedure.\u00a0 In her comments during the Annual Meeting, Justice Goldberg advised practitioners to submit well organized appendices to the Court and, in accordance with Rule 17, such appendices should include a table of contents.\u00a0 In addition, where appropriate, appendices submitted to the Court should be divided into multiple volumes to avoid the submission of oversized and heavy appendices.<\/p>\n In their comments at the Annual Meeting, three justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court cautioned practitioners about ad hominem<\/i> in briefs.\u00a0 Personal attacks have no place in appellate briefs.\u00a0 Practitioners who receive briefs from opposing counsel with ad hominem<\/i> should refrain from responding in kind and, in some instances, the Court may entertain a motion to strike ad hominem<\/i> from a party\u2019s brief.<\/p>\n Among the advice that three Rhode Island Supreme Court justices offered to practitioners at the Rhode Island Bar Association\u2019s Annual Meeting was that those who have never handled a case before the Rhode Island Supreme Court and those who appear before the Court infrequently should consider engaging an appellate practitioner to assist with their appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Among the many programs offered at this year\u2019s Rhode Island Bar Association Annual Meeting was a continuing legal education program titled \u201cDos and Don\u2019ts of Appellate Practice.\u201d\u00a0 The panel, moderated by my colleague, John Tarantino, 2012-2013 chair of the Rhode Island Supreme…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,43,15],"tags":[18,40,42,44,16,45,14],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appendices","category-briefs","category-civility","category-demonstratives","tag-appellate-practice","tag-appendices","tag-briefs","tag-civility","tag-demonstratives","tag-rhode-island-bar-association","tag-rhode-island-supreme-court"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/on-appeal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/on-appeal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/on-appeal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/on-appeal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/on-appeal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/on-appeal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/on-appeal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/on-appeal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/on-appeal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}(2)\u00a0\u00a0 WRITE BETTER BRIEFS:\u00a0 READ HEMINGWAY.<\/h2>\n
(3)\u00a0\u00a0 A WORD ABOUT APPENDICES.<\/h2>\n
(4)\u00a0\u00a0 DON\u2019T FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE.<\/h2>\n
(5)\u00a0\u00a0 DON\u2019T GO IT ALONE.<\/h2>\n