The Appellate Record : Texas Appellate Lawyer & Attorney Kendall Gray for Fifth Circuit & Supreme Court Appeals

Remember when George H.W. Bush was the 41st President of the United States? Back when the Warsaw Pact dissolved and the U.S.S.R. became the Commonwealth of Independent States? Back when Pan Am ceased flying?

Well, I do.

(No snarky questions professing ignorance about the Warsaw Pact, if you please.)

I was in my first year at Baylor Law School and trying to master the complexities of Civil Procedure, including the mysteries of International Shoe and "minimum contacts."

And just about the time I thought I had it, Professor Trail smiled that mischievous smile of his and came straight at us with something about a "Stream of Commerce" and Asahi Metal Inustry v. Superior Court. As best I can recall, we were either supposed to elucidate what the law of personal jurisdiction actually was in the wake of Asahi, or else predict who would prevail in a cage match between Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justice William Brennan.

The result was predictable confusion--confusion that reached down the ages.

Until today. Professors and law nerds everywhere had the vapors because the Supreme Court of the United States had a chance to clear it all up in J. McIntyre Machinery Ltd. v. Nicastro. After the break, a few words on how end-of-term alphabet soup begat "Son of Asahi."

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So, it's that time of year again, campers. It's the time when all the law nerds gather 'round expectantly and philosophize over the Supreme Court's final opinions of the term. 

And it's no different here at the Appellate Record. We yield to no one in our lack of a rich inner life. 

Lately, the talking heads were all agog about the American Electric Power opinion, how these global warming lawsuits were dead without an "activist court."

But then I read the opinion myself.

After the jump, a word or two about what a mess can be caused by awkward silence. 

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A hearty thank you to the Dallas Bar Association Appellate Section for inviting Rob Gilbreath and me to wax on about Typography.

The food was great.

The company was even better.

The questions after the presentation were both welcome and interesting. Several stimulated good topics for a future post on the blog, so watch this space and stay tuned for more deep thoughts on not being ugly and unreadable.

As promised, you can find the powerpoint presentation, with its list of outside resources here.

I love discussing, thinking about, and speaking on this topic, so all your comments and thoughts are welcome. It was great putting the presentation together, and I hope I get to present it again really soon.

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A little heads up to readers in the Dallas area. The Appellate Record will be on the road, live and in person at the Dallas Bar Association Appellate Law Section on June 16. The seminar will be at the Belo Mansion at high noon.

Robert Gilbreath and I will be presenting a program called "Don't Be Ugly" about how to enhance the persuasive power of your legal writing just through better typography and document design.

• We'll be using actual briefing examples from a number of real cases.
• We'll stack the Microsoft defaults and the briefing rules up against standards of good typography.
• We'll mock Times New Roman.
• We'll joust about footnotes.

It will be nerd-o-riffic. So be there or be square.

Or, squarer.

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So today is the day for presenting my rant on privacy and confidentiality in the age of e-filing at the 21st Annual Conference on State and Federal Appeals.

And because you are a preferred reader of the blog, YOU get an updated and corrected version of my paper, "I'm From The Government And I'm Here To Help."

The paper includes some suggested "best practices" to hopefully avoid the danger of getting your client's private information unintentionally exposed to the internet through e-filing.

How much would you pay for a premium like that? But don't answer yet, because preferred blog readers also get the appendix of sealing rules and procedures compiled by my colleague, Jason Shyung.

Of course, only conference attendees will get the pulse-quickening thrill of the live, power point presentation. At 2:15 on a Friday afternoon. 

So they've got that going for them. Which is good.

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