Supreme Court Practice.

AuthorHigginbotham, Patrick E.
PositionBook review

Robert Stem's Supreme Court Practice is widely regarded as the essential reference for practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Stern retired from the Mayer Brown law firm leaving its upkeep--it is now in its ninth edition--to the hands of three distinguished members of the firm's Supreme Court and Appellate Practice group. (1)

This practice group of lawyers has turned virtually all hands to produce Federal Appellate Practice, boldly offered as a companion to the Stem treatise. With seventeen chapters and 953 pages, it is said to be a collegial effort and is presented as "a comprehensive array of the issues that a federal appellate practitioner must confront." (2) I found that to be so.

This is a treatise but it offers much more in a seamless blend of rules and practice--a legal reference with narratives drawn from rich experience that speaks to the ear of the lawyer who has a case and the study of one who hopes to be retained. It offers the rules and the case law with a style that can be captured only by writers who are able participants not just observers. This is no small feat: to maintain a disciplined treatment of the rules of the game while counseling lawyers of their play all with a reassuring quality of work. The chapters flow from preserving issues for appeal to appellate jurisdiction, to motions, continuing in a march responsive to the likely order of issues a federal appeal will present. The writing is crisp and to the point.

There are many, but I will point to just one small example of its consistent lifting up of the little but important issues in the practice: In treating appellate jurisdiction the reader is directed to Rule 54(b), one path of appeal before final judgment. The authors' treatment of the issue of whether the requirement that the claim being appealed be separate from the claim that remains in the district court is an independent requirement or merely part of the no-reason-for-delay inquiry is concrete and to the point, lifting up in one brief...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT