How to avoid alienating the judge

Courtesy of Evan Schaeffer, here is something every briefwriter needs to know—or to be reminded of: Judges don’t like to see lawyers belittling the other side. That is the lesson of this post by Maxwell Kennerly at Litigation and Trial. Max spotted a news story quoting a judge telling a lawyer, “I'm disheartened by the tone of it — and you seem to be following in that same tone here today.” Curious about what set off the judge, Max located and uploaded the offending brief, studied it, and has given us his take on what may have prompted the judge’s reaction. Max’s post is a must-read for every briefwriter, no matter how experienced.