Legal Commentary

Don?t Get Sick in Judge Bohm?s District:

By Todd Zywicki

Check out this order from Bankruptcy Judge Bohm in the Southern District of Texas:

Notice and Order Regarding Motions to Lift Stay
______________________________________________________________________________
The Attorney who signs a Motion to Lift Stay must personally appear in Court at all hearings
relating to the motion unless an agreed order has been filed with the Clerk of Court at least two
(2) business days prior to the scheduled hearing. The attorney who signs the motion may not
send another attorney in lieu of appearing personally. Sanctions may be imposed for failure to
personally appear.

I assume that his objective is to make sure that the lawyers who show up for hearings know about the cases in which they are appearing.  But requiring the lawyer who signed the motion doesn?t ensure that: just because the lawyer signed the motion doesn?t mean he?ll be more prepared for oral argument.  Moreover, why does the judge believe that the more knowledgeable lawyer would sign the motion rather than showing up to argue?  What if the more-prepared lawyer is sick the day the motion is signed?  Or argued?  More generally, surely there are more direct ways of policing unprepared lawyers than requiring the lawyer who signed the motion to show up.  What if the lawyer has an emergency the day of the hearing?he really can?t send one of his colleagues to appear?

I?ve never heard of anything like this before and it is hard for me to follow how this makes sense.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on January 27, 2010 (boomark / email).