Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Federal Judiciary Blogs -> Supreme Dicta

Federal Judiciary

: Supreme Dicta

Worst brief ever!

Another fantastic story out of Wisconsin, but unfortunately not from Sheboygan (sorry Seth).

A jazz musician who filed a legal brief in a child custody dispute with rap lyrics won his appeal and will get out of paying nearly $4,000 in fees.

Gregory Royal, a trombone player, represented himself and spent three days writing his legal brief in rap form. Here's a selection of lyrics (using that term loosely):

• "Regarding frivolous filings, one thing is clear. Notice to show cause and proper service before you appear."
• "And if Industrial vs. Marquardt is any measure, it's the frivolous allegations, not the venue of your endeavor."
• "A domestic relations exception, I was supposed to know. Appellee would know too, so why did he spend so much doe?"
• "Appellee dissed 814.04 for his 3 grand justification. But he forgets that 977.08 puts the brakes on his compensation."

Good Lord, where do I begin? You spent three days working on that? Stick to playing the damn trombone.

Even worse, you are just encouraging more pro se litigants. Our justice system can barely keep up with this guy. We don't need any more.

Finally, I have to take issue with the lead sentence in the AP story, which reads: "Justice might be blind, but apparently it has good rhythm." No freackin' way. Paul Simon has good rhythm. Mr. Royal's rhythm is more like this:

Full post as published by Supreme Dicta on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).