June 15, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
So onward to the next set of presentations at the Law Court’s appellate seminar.
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June 8, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
I shall return to my download of the Law Court’s appellate seminar, but first I wanted to weigh in on the recent passing of Peter DeTroy. Many people have justly noted that he was the consummate trial lawyer. Let’s take a moment to talk about his appellate talents, too.
May 27, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
As we alerted was coming in previous blogs, the Maine SJC held its seminar on appellate issues last Friday. There were 100 registrants and the conference, with all 7 Justices participating, was chock-a-block with useful material. Here’s a start on summarizing.
May 19, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
Following up on my last entry, here is the download from Alan DuBois, the First Assistant Public Defender of the District of North Carolina (so he spoke from the criminal defense perspective and how to draft the appellant brief). His presentation was excellent and thought provoking, in part because he spoke against conventional wisdom. Here are some nuggets I found useful:
May 17, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
Things are hopping on the appellate front in Maine.
April 28, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
There has been much publicity about the clubbiness of the US Supreme Court, including how, if you want your cert petition granted, you’d better have the signature of one of the handful of folks they like to hear argue on the petition. These are the Lucky Few who (1) went to Harvard or Yale; (2) clerked for a Supreme Court Justice; and (3) then typically went to the Solicitor General’s office for a few years before hitting the Supreme Court boutiques. See http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/scotus/
April 26, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
So we had a little hiatus from blogging because I was teaching a class at the U. of Maine Law School. That teaching exercise was, using technical lingo, a Giant Time Suck. My hats off to anyone and everyone in education who do this year after year. Phew!
March 14, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
It’s been a while since we’ve discussed what’s been happening at the First Circuit vis-à-vis- Maine, so here’s an update. Nothing too spectacular on the Maine front decision-wise, but the Court is offering a free seminar, with one session in April in Boston, and one in May in Portland, on criminal appellate practice in the First Circuit. They do something like this every five years or so. I went to the last one and it was very good. While most of the schedule is focused on issues of only criminal appellate interest, the beginning of the day has Judge Kayatta speaking, followed by another speaker on issues of generic appellate interest. It’s free and you get CLE (although not ethics, which seems odd, since David Beneman is talking about that for a half-hour). http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/news/federal-criminal-appellate-practice-seminar-0
March 11, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
The Attorney General recently issued an opinion on the constitutionality of proposed legislation to adopt ranked voting, noting that the proposed law presents serious constitutional issues. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3PYp5sROj_1RGNBUldIelk0T1lHVTZ1UTRrSkU3eHZtdFZJ/view?pref=2&pli=1. The problem is that the relevant provision in the Maine Constitution refers to vote by a “plurality,” which suggested that you pick the candidate with the most votes and end there.
March 10, 2016 / June 15, 2016 by mindgrub
Things are hopping on the appellate practice front in Maine. Last month the Maine SJC announced it was creating an advisory committee for the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure, and on May 20, the SJC will be giving a CLE on Appellate Practice before the Court. (Appellate Practice Before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court (PRACPRO)
