Legal Research

Legal writing and research instructors spend a lot of time emphasizing the importance of proofreading briefs and memos, and here's why -- The Legal Intelligencer reports today that a federal judge decided to award just $26,000 in attorneys' fees instead of the requested $180,000, in part because the petitioning attorney's brief was filled with typographical errors.  In fact, the attorney inserted some text from a brief involving different parties, but never bothered to change the defendants' names.  The judge made this wry comment about the attorney's "cut and paste" error, "It is suggested that I sign an order which recites the wrong amount of McKenna's judgment and orders three strangers to this action to pay attorneys' fees and costs."  Ouch.  In his closing paragraph, the judge stated:

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, each lawyer knew he and she could not nail any old slap-dash parchment to the church door and expect someone else to pay for it. Most lawyers who practice in this court also know that. They all should.