Tag Archives: Legal Humor

Ethical Lapses in Motions for Rehearing

By D. Todd Smith on September 18, 2011 Posted in Appellate Practice, Motions, Rehearing

Here is the second video from the "ethics intervention" presentation at the Advanced Appellate Seminar recently put on by the State Bar Appellate Section and TexasBarCLE, Houston appellate lawyer David Holman once again demonstrates some things counsel should not do, this time in the context of preparing and filing a motion for rehearing in the… Continue Reading

How Not to Handle Oral Argument

By D. Todd Smith on September 16, 2011 Posted in Appellate Practice, Oral Argument

I recently promised a little humor, so here you go. In this video, produced for the Advanced Appellate Seminar put on last week by the State Bar Appellate Section and TexasBarCLE, Houston appellate lawyer David Holman demonstrates a number of things counsel should not do during oral argument. The video was part of an "ethics… Continue Reading

Should I Run an Ad Like This?

By D. Todd Smith on May 16, 2008 Posted in Appellate Practice

For some Friday afternoon fun, watch this video, courtesy of the Sophistic Miltonian Serbonian Blog: If you don’t know, Tom Goldstein was a small-firm lawyer before he joined Akin Gump. (Yes, this was my first attempt at imbedding video on this blog.)

Ya Basta!

By D. Todd Smith on December 6, 2007 Posted in Opinions & Judgments

Roger Hughes tipped me off to this opinion from the Thirteenth Court of Appeals, which borrows a Spanish expression I had the privilege of learning directly from the source cited, former Texas Supreme Court Justice Raul Gonzalez. Roughly translated, ya basta means "enough is enough." As Roger observed: The 13th Ct App (notoriously lenient in putting up… Continue Reading

Worth the Wait?

By D. Todd Smith on February 19, 2007 Posted in Oral Argument

This oral argument outtake, like the one posted here, comes from Reliance National Indemnity Co. v. Advanced Temporaries, Inc., argued before the Texas Supreme Court on October 18, 2006: Counsel: May it please the Court, counsel. I am just thrilled as I can be to be here. I’ve been doing this for 21 years, and… Continue Reading

The Media’s Role in Corrupting Possessive Form

By D. Todd Smith on February 15, 2007 Posted in Briefs

Over at Legalwriting.net, Wayne Schiess has posted his observation that many lawyers fail to use an "apostrophe + s" to create the possessive of a word already ending in "s." Professor Schiess notes a connection between this tendency and newspapers’ use of this form. (Yes, it’s OK to use only an apostrophe when the word… Continue Reading

More on the House(boat) That Wasn’t a Home(stead)

By D. Todd Smith on February 12, 2007 Posted in Opinions & Judgments

Over at Blawgletter, Barry Barnett has an interesting post about Friday’s Norris v. Thomas decision from the Texas Supreme Court: Blawgletter can’t help but wonder whether Gilligan—he of Gilligan’s Island (1964-67) fame—could have earned homestead protection for S.S. Minnow, the tiny ship that a storm wrecked 40-plus years ago on a desert island nowhere near… Continue Reading

“He’s Going to Be Insufferable”

By D. Todd Smith on January 30, 2007 Posted in Oral Argument

Pasted below is a nugget collected by Pamela Stanton Baron, a leading Texas Supreme Court watcher/practitioner who either attends or listens to all of the Court’s oral arguments. More "outtakes" will follow periodically. Thanks to Pam for allowing me to post them here. From Reliance National Indemnity Co. v. Advanced Temporaries, Inc., argued on October… Continue Reading