Appellate Oral Argument Outline? Forum

[Extension_Cord]

Does anyone have a general outline of an appellate oral argument? I have mine on Thursday and I was thinking there must be a general outline on how to do these things.

Thanks.

[MrPapagiorgio]

I don't see much utility in one. As soon as one of the judges asks you a question, any plan of attack may go to shit, especially with a hot bench. Mine was just a bunch of short phrases to jog my memory of my argument if the questions threw me off track and I wasn't able to re-group from memory. And besides, the better argument is one where you don't need to look down at all.

[Flips88]

just make a 2 page bullet point outline of your argument. Have an opening road map for your argument. Say "your honor" frequently.

[MrPapagiorgio]

Also, avoid any synonym of "As I previously stated" and never, ever respond to a judge's question with "I will be getting to that later."

[Flips88]

Oh and one good tip we got: don't use phrases like "I would argue that" or "Appellants believe" or "Appellants would argue..." Just say what your point without prefacing.

[Extension_Cord]

good stuff, thanks.

[jess]

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[ilovesf]

My outline followed that format. My bench was surprisingly cold. I didn't get questions until I got to my fourth point. It's always good to be prepared for that. I also included answers to possible questions they might have that I didn't necessarily want to discuss unless asked about.

My outline was pretty much the same. However I started to get questions during my theme and they continued pretty heavily throughout my 12 minutes. I only talked about my last point for 1 minute.

[lobolawyer]

Intro
May it please the court. My name is ___________. And I represent the appellant/appellee __________. [I respectfully request one minute for rebuttal. - if appellant] [Catchy theme or policy sentence that weaves in critical facts of case – sentence or two – zinger.] Therefore, appellant/appellee respectfully requests that this court ___________ for [1,2,3] reasons. First, first reason. Second, second reason. Third, third reason. Turning to my first point:

Body
First point: Similar to point heading of your brief.
Rule (statutes, cases)
Case description (case name, court name, year decided, facts, holding, reasoning)
Your facts
Mini Conclusion

Second point: Copy above format

Third point: Copy above format

Conclusion
For the reasons above, ___________________. [Request relief again]

Rebuttal
May it please the court. I have [1,2] point(s) for rebuttal. The opposing counsel has stated _______. However, blah blah.


My outline followed that format. My bench was surprisingly cold. I didn't get questions until I got to my fourth point. It's always good to be prepared for that. I also included answers to possible questions they might have that I didn't necessarily want to discuss unless asked about.

This. But, you'll probably enter an appearance before the arguments, so you can lose the my name is/I represent.

[jess]

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