Oral Argument Is a Dialogue, Not a Monologue

• Author: Faith Dianne Pincus
• Profession: Attorney and former Federal Law Clerk
• Pages: 131-140

131

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Oral Argument Is

a Dialogue, Not

aMonologue

Eight Rules from the Bench

Rule #1: Answer the Question—and Answer

the One You Are Asked

Very often during your motion or appellate argument, you will, if you are

lucky, be interrupted by a judge or justice asking a question.

The number one complaint I hear from judges and justices is about

attorneys who don’t answer their questions.

As the late Florida Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. England put it to me:

When the question is asked, an immediate answer followed by an

explanation is what you’re looking for .... Time and again it will count

against an attorney when a judge or justice has to say to them, “You haven’t

answered my question.” And if a judge has to do it more than once, it’s

not only frustrating, it’s really not helpful. The answer is always, “Yes,”

“No,” or “That’s not in the record,” and then the explanation follows.

That’s the biggest flaw I see in attorneys.

So that means the number one thing I can say to you about arguing

your motions before a judge (or justice) is this:

Listen to the question.

Answer the question.

And make sure you are answering the question that was asked.

This is what you can never forget when it comes to arguing any type

of motion, at the trial or appellate level. So, how do you make absolutely

sure this occurs?

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