Law Vibe

From Law.com:

Your preparations for an important appellate oral argument should begin at least one week beforehand. Depending on the size of the record and the complexity of the issues, you may need to begin preparing as much as one month in advance — or more.

When preparing for an appellate argument, I begin by rereading appellate briefs filed in the case and the trial court’s orders and opinions that are the subject of the appeal. While reading these items, I list the case law and other items of authority — such as statutes, constitutional provisions and court rules — that could influence the case’s outcome, so that I can reread these cases and other legal authorities during the course of my oral argument preparation.

It’s very important to update the legal research reflected in the briefs. Whether oral argument is occurring only weeks after the briefs were filed or, more typically, months later, the legal issues addressed in the briefs may, in the interim, have been the subject of new rulings by either the court in which the appeal is pending or other courts whose rulings may appear persuasive to the court before which you will be arguing. The appellate judges and their law clerks are likely to be familiar with these new decisions from their own research prior to oral arguments. Similarly, you must be prepared to answer questions about new authority or to draw the court’s attention to helpful new authority that the court may not have found on its own.

Another important aspect of oral argument preparation is refamiliarizing yourself with the appendix on appeal, which in some jurisdictions is alternately known as the record excerpts or reproduced record. Remember that the appellate judges, in preparing for oral argument, have access not only to the briefs but also to the appendix. You should review the appendix from cover to cover so that you can answer any questions the judges may have for you about appendix items’ meaning and significance.

In addition to focusing on the case you are about to orally argue, you should also focus on the court before which the appeal will be heard. You should learn about the appellate court’s oral argument procedures, consider why the court has listed the case for oral argument, and — if the court has disclosed the identity of the judges to whom the appeal has been assigned — conduct research on the judges before whom the case will be argued.