New and events of the Philadelphia Bar Asso.
Issue link: https://thephiladelphialawyer.epubxp.com/i/574228
There are obviously many ways to frame an issue. How important is that aspect of a brief and oral argument for the court in terms of how lawyers frame and present the issue rather than the argument in general? It is critical. The person who frames the issue gets to control the discussion, and Justice Jackson said, "Claims of error on appeal are like currency — both lose value due to over- issunace." People need to think about what their critical issues are and what issues they want to preserve. So what advice do you give lawyers? You want to be as specific as possible so that the court immediately understands what the issue is. What was the motion in limine? What was it specifically that you felt should not be admitted that the trial court admitted? By admitting that piece of evidence, did it make it so prejudicial that the trial became unfair? The Superior Court is typically very well prepared. What's the process? Obviously, you read the case, but in my experience, there are always questions that seem be to ready. The Superior Court is a "hot" court. This means that the briefs and original records are furnished in advance of the argument to permit time for review and study for a minimum of four weeks in advance of the date scheduled. Our judges review every case, and then they discuss the cases that they want to brainstorm with their clerks. So, every single case of the 45 cases has been read and analyzed, and then we focus on that issue which we want the appellant or appellee to discuss. Therefore, it's an error to go through all the facts in your case. We know the facts of your case. The Pennsylvania appellate courts are predominantly female in terms of their composition. What do you attribute that to? I think that you have to look at it historically, and I think that Pennsylvania was at the forefront of this. In 1867, Myra Bradfield applied for admission to the State Bar of Illinois, and the Supreme Court of Illinois denied her application. She then filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States which affirmed the denial of her license, and if you read the language of Supreme Court Justice Miller's opinion, he said "The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex, evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life… the paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfill noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator." And that was Bradwell v. State in 1872. A few years later, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in 1896, authorized women to be licensed to practice and the prothonotary of Philadelphia was ordered to administer the oath of admission to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the philadelphia lawyer Fall 2015 21