Appellate Practice

Meet Tina Chappell, Intel In-House Counsel for Whom Working on Patent Appeals Is ‘My Chocolate’

When Tina Chappell went to law school, she knew she wanted to be a patent attorney. Now, as senior litigation counsel at Intel, her job puts her with talented engineers and in-house and outside counsel on federal appeals court and even U.S. Supreme Court cases, work she describes as “really…

Jun 7, 2011 9:43 PM CDT

Top NJ Court Says Bloggers May Not Qualify for State Shield Law Protection Against Revealing Sources

Not every “self-appointed newsperson” is a journalist, for the purpose of applying New Jersey’s shield law protecting journalists from revealing their sources, the state supreme court ruled today. Although a Washington state woman, Shellee Hale, who posted message board comments critical of Too Much Media, sought to apply the shield…

Jun 7, 2011 9:02 PM CDT

Supreme Court to Decide Right to Effective Assistance on Habeas Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear an appeal that involves claims of ineffective assistance of counsel at both the trial and habeas levels. SCOTUSblog calls the cert grant “a big deal in habeas law.” The issue is whether a defendant has a right to effective assistance of…

Jun 7, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Supremes Refuse to Hear Wesley Snipes Appeal in Criminal Tax Case; He Had Sought Venue Hearing

Actor Wesley Snipes will stay in jail, where he is serving a three-year sentence for failing to file federal tax returns for several years, after the U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear his appeal of his conviction on venue grounds. Snipes argued that the feds should have brought the…

Jun 6, 2011 8:26 PM CDT

A Second, ‘Arguably’ Less Friendly Appeals Panel Considers Health Care Law

A plaintiff challenging the new health care law could derail a federal appellate ruling on its constitutionality because she bought health insurance from her employer last October. Arguing on Wednesday before the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal said the case should be dismissed…

Jun 2, 2011 1:15 PM CDT

7th Circuit Scolds Hogan Lovells for ‘Misleadingly’ Describing Case in Appellate Brief

In an opinion filed yesterday in redistricting dispute involving the Girl Scouts of the United States, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals court took a well-known law firm to task for its characterization of a case cited as authority for its client’s position. Hogan Lovells “misleadingly” described a…

Jun 1, 2011 9:55 PM CDT

Want to Hear 11th Circuit Arguments on the Health-Care Law? It Will Cost $26

A federal appeals court will allow a recording of oral arguments in a challenge to the constitutionality of the health-care law on June 8, but it won’t be posting it online. Instead, the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will sell a limited number of CD copies of the…

Jun 1, 2011 11:30 AM CDT

Ex-BigLaw Attorneys at MoloLamken Add Patent Appellate Win to String of Supreme Court Victories

Not quite two years after leaving BigLaw to form their own boutique, two former partners are celebrating a string of noteworthy victories. Helped by referrals from their former firms, as well as other major partnerships, Steven Molo and Jeffrey Lamken have a book of business that gives them at least…

May 31, 2011 9:43 PM CDT

Author Gets 6-Week Contempt Term for ‘Jolly Hangman’ Book re Singapore Justice System

A British author’s appeal of a contempt finding and six-week jail sentence for writing a book critical of the Singapore justice system has been unsuccessful. After the Singapore Court of Appeal’s affirmation of the sentence today, which also includes a fine of about $16,000 in U.S. dollars, author Alan Shadrake…

May 27, 2011 5:24 PM CDT

Acting SG Katyal Tells of Mistakes by a Predecessor in World War II Internment Case

Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal is condemning mistakes made by a predecessor who defended the internment of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II. Katyal made his statement in a “distinctly 21st century way”—through a post at The Justice Blog, the Associated Press reports. The BLT: The Blog of…

May 24, 2011 1:46 PM CDT

FLDS Member Who Pled to Assault Appealing Today, Arguing Tainted Evidence

A Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member, who last year pled guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year old girl, is appealing the conviction. He says that he would not receive a fair trial in the rural Texas county where he was charged, and that the plea…

May 18, 2011 3:51 PM CDT

Justice Thomas: Critics Who Don’t Read Opinions Have ‘Disease of Illiteracy or Laziness’

Justice Clarence Thomas says his colleagues remain on good terms despite their philosophical disagreements, unlike some critics of the court’s opinions. Many of the critics have apparently never read the cases, Thomas said Tuesday evening at the Augusta Bar Association’s Law Day Banquet. The Augusta Chronicle and the Associated Press…

May 18, 2011 2:14 PM CDT

Think Oral Arguments Are Important? Think Again, Justice Alito Says

Supreme Court litigators don’t speak much more than the justices during oral arguments, according to a first-hand participant, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Justices are “pushing 50 percent” in the number of words spoken at oral argument, Alito told lawyers at a Law Day gathering in St. Louis on Monday.…

May 17, 2011 11:15 AM CDT

7th Circuit: Chicago Fire Department Must Hire 111 Black Candidates

After a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that found Chicago’s entry-level firefighter test had a disparate impact based on race, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today ordered that the city must hire 111 bypassed black firefighter candidates. The 7th Circuit also ordered that the city distribute “tens…

May 13, 2011 6:19 PM CDT

2nd Cir OKs Temporary Ban on Plaintiffs’ Collection Efforts re $18B Enviro Judgment Against Chevron

Corrected: A federal appeals court yesterday upheld an unusual preliminary injunction preventing the plaintiffs who won an $18 billion judgment in an Ecuador environmental case against Chevron Corp. from taking action to collect from the defendant oil company, but eased restrictions imposed by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that prevented…

May 12, 2011 10:12 PM CDT