Miscellaneous

ND Practice Tips: Parrots and Ponies

By Anne Skove, Esq.

The North Dakota Supreme Court's appellate practice tip of the week: "A Petition for Rehearing will not succeed by simply parroting the dissent."

Earlier tips, any one of which is suitable for your next needlepoint project or for wrangling with children, include:

• Drop the hyperbole!!!


• Cheap shots at the other side will only hurt your case.


• Seek to persuade, not to show how much you know.


• Omitting key facts destroys your credibility when the other side points them out.


• Justices don't like to have to look for the pony.


• When you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.


• "Judges are not ferrets." Linrud v. Linrud, 552 N.W.2d 342 (N.D. 1996).


• Be respectful, but also self-respectful.


• Acknowledge obvious weaknesses in your case and explain why you should win anyway.


• Raise only important issues. Trivial issues detract from important ones.


• Cite only cases you have actually read.


• Read the cases cited by your opponent.


• Don't evade.


• Don't answer a question with a question.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to rifle through our DMC thread colors and get busy!

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on July 23, 2008 (boomark / email).