You may know your case inside and out, but do you know everything about handling an appeal in federal court? Odds are your questions will be answered in the State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE® Attorney’s Guide to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, newly supplemented for 2012. This mainstay of Wisconsin appellate litigation takes you through the appellate process from start to finish, providing you all you need to present your case fully, clearly, and effectively.
May 2, 2012 – Senior Circuit Judge Ruggiero J. Aldisert long ago summed up the frustration of the appellate judge who looks out at a looming mountain of appeals. “Every lawyer now believes that he or she is competent to pursue and win an appeal,” he wrote. “However, even though one may be a good trial lawyer and know the rocky terrain of trial courtrooms, this does not guarantee the ability to handle the slippery slopes of appellate advocacy. Experienced appellate judges sink into melancholy when they consider how shallow is the preparation of some of the lawyers who crowd their dockets.” Opinion Writing 3 (1st ed. 1990).
You know your case inside and out, but the appellate court doesn’t. How do you determine what will be in the record before that court? For that matter, how do you get things into the record? How long do you have to file your notice of appeal – or to respond? How long can your brief be; what color cover must it have? How are motions filed and decided? What are the deadlines? Are the procedures the same in federal court as they are in state court?
The answers to these and many more questions are in the Attorney’s Guide to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal, newly supplemented for 2012. Available in both print and electronically through the State Bar’s interactive online library, Books UnBound®, the Guide is written by experienced attorneys and court personnel. Open this book and see what Wisconsin lawyers have long appreciated about this book. In a 1997 review in the Wisconsin Lawyer, attorney Nicholas Zales stated that “[t]his guide ... gives attorneys a wealth of detailed useful information. When considering an appeal or appeal-related issue, it is the first reference I look to.” And the guide has only gotten better as it’s been repeatedly revised and updated.
Besides recent court decisions and legislative changes, this year’s supplement addresses such matters as whether denial of a summary-judgment motion based on qualified immunity can be appealed after a full trial on the merits; whether a ruling is “final” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) when the claim on which a partial judgment has been entered is “substantively intertwined” with the claim remaining in the district court; the difference between the excusable-neglect and good-cause standards under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4; whether the failure of a certificate of appealability to “indicate” a constitutional issue deprives the court of appeals of jurisdiction over the appeal; and whether an attorney’s false certification that a brief complies with the word-count limitations imposed by Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32 could give rise to sanctions, including dismissal of the appeal.
Do your client, yourself, and the Seventh Circuit a favor. Get the guide and get the answers.
State Bar of Wisconsin members can buy Attorney’s Guide to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal in print for $155, plus tax and shipping. Current owners of the print book who subscribe to the Bar’s automatic supplementation service will receive future updates at a 10 percent discount off the regular update price. Annual subscriptions to Books UnBound start at $129 per title and $649 for the full library (single-user prices; call for firm pricing). Current full-library subscribers to Books UnBound automatically receive this update. To order or for more information, visit WisBar’s Marketplace or call the State Bar at (800) 728-7788 or (608) 257-3838.
