Tidbits from Oscar's Blog

[Mulligan]

I'm a regular reader of Oscar Michelin's interesting, informative, and often entertaining blog at http://www.courtroomstrategy.com/

Here's the latest tidbit I picked up for my files from Oscar's post on the topic of "Warner Bros. Beats Out Creators’ Heirs Over Rights to Superman":

But at the end of the day, especially if there is no official transcript produced of the oral argument, the court relies almost exclusively on the written briefs and may have completely forgotten what was said at the argument weeks (and maybe months earlier). The court may also just be less persuaded after the passage of time and after re-reading the briefs. That is why it is essential that lawyers NOT rely at all on oral argument and make certain that their written briefs clearly and completely make their point. Otherwise they may find that their clients legal rights will have sailed “up up an away.” (Couldn’t resist).*

I think this point is worth adding to ELI because knowing this information about the court will help people carefully prepare their letters to Getty and Getty surrogates.

If you haven't bookmarked Oscar's Courtroom Strategy blog, you should do so because it's packed full of good information for anyone interested in how lawyers and courts and legislators work as well as wannabe litigators. (Oh, to be 16 again and trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life!)

* extracted from http://www.courtroomstrategy.com/2012/10/warner-bros-beats-out-creators-heirs-over-rights-to-superman/

[stinger]

Good take Mulligan.  I appreciate your taking the time to draw our attention to this.

[Mulligan]

Stinger, I'm happy you found this thread useful.

Oscar's latest commentary on lawyers who are twisting law to make money I found really interesting. Entitled "Congress Must Stop the ADA Shakedown Racket -- and Here's How," this is another useful read that gives insight into how the minds of crooked lawyers work. This blog post also nicely demonstrates how laws started with good intentions can turn into absurd perversions that would leave Alice in Wonderland shaking her head in bemusement. Check it out at...

http://www.courtroomstrategy.com/2012/10/congress-must-stop-the-ada-shakedown-racket-and-heres-how/