Fourth DCA Allows Stipulated Enlargements of Time

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Probably the most common motion filed in the Florida intermediate appellate courts are motions for enlargements of time to serve briefs. Such motions are routinely granted, but take up an enormous amount of judicial resources that could better be used deciding something substantive. The Fourth District Court of Appeal has solved this problem by issuing an administrative order [.pdf] allowing parties to stipulate to an enlargement. Effective February 1, 2012, the parties need only follow the language of the order to file an agreed stipulation to receive an enlargement of up to 120 days for an initial or answer brief, or 60 days for a reply brief.

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iPad and Oral Advocacy

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Ready To Argue. Originally uploaded by Dineen.

This week I had oral argument before Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona, and I decided to travel light. In the past when preparing for oral argument, I would, in the course of following my own advice, put together a notebook (or two!) with marked-up copies of the cases and the most important record excerpts. Not only would I use that book to prepare, but I would carry it with me like a security blanket, as a back up in case we needed to quote from a case or from something in the record.

But this time, I had my iPad. I have come to be convinced that an iPad loaded with the GoodReader App is one of the best tools for lawyers to come around in many years. Synced with Dropbox, I have in a neat little electronic package all of the research I’ve done since I’ve purchased my iPad at my fingertips. GoodReader allows me read and annotate case law like a dream — I get all of my nice neat red underlines and yellow highlights and typed notations saved on a .pdf of the case. If I want to send the case to a colleague, I can do so with or without my annotations. And because it’s all electronic, it’s easily searchable, and I can put my hands on a library of marked up cases so much more easily than when I was trying to maintain paper research files. I can search file names through GoodReader, or search the substance of the files using either my Mac’s or my Windows box’s onboard search function.

Pre-iPad, I would have schlepped the notebook or two with me to Daytona, trying to juggle all of that paper as I reviewed and prepared and even as I approached the podium — and likely not looked at the book once I was at the podium. But this week, I had with me at the podium the briefs, my one sheet of argument notes, and my iPad, with the 6 or 7 most likely items I might want to refer to open and easily tabbed between. The screen capture to the right is a recreation/approximation of how I was ready to go for argument.

Afterward, I joked to my friends: “Instead of looking like a pack mule and not ever looking at any of it, I looked sleek and techno-savvy and never looked at it.” If I am going to have a security blanket, it is so very much easier for it to be a simple, thin electronic device rather than a huge notebook. I am sure the trees are thankful, too. And kudos to the Fifth District Court of Appeal for allowing me to carry in my electronic security blanket.

Update: Per Curiam Affirmed. For Appellee, that’s a win!

eFiling in the 11th Circuit Starts in 2012

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eFiling is coming in the Eleventh Circuit, but it won’t be saving as many trees as you would think. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals will begin allowing voluntary e-filing of briefs and other appeal documents in pending appeals starting January 1, 2011. The Court’s General Order 37 [.pdf] adopts the Eleventh Circuit Guide to Voluntary Electronic Filing, otherwise known as “the Guide.” As in many district court’s ECF rules, use of the login is considered the attorney’s signature on the document “for all purposes”.

One interesting note — the Court requests that .pdfs filed via ECF, whenever possible, “be in Text-Searchable PDF and not created by scanning.” ¶ 4.2. Even if this weren’t the rule, it’s a very good idea, because consider that the documents you file via .pdf are more and more likely to be read by judges and their clerks in electronic form. Help those decision makers help you by making it easy for them to search and annotate your submissions. (I won’t dwell on the irony of the document at that link being a scanned version of the rules).

The Guide does not allow for pro se parties to file electronically, though those filings, too, are to be scanned into the ECF system. ¶ 4.6. Interestingly, the Court will discard originals once scanned unless there is an issue with the quality of the scan. ¶ 5.4.

The Court handles the issue of when a document is filed by holding that the date of the system-generated Notice of Docket Activity (NDA) is the governing time. Electronic filing also includes electronic serving, and if other attorneys on the case are on ECF, they will be served automatically. For appeals, special care will need to be taken to confirm who is getting paper and who is being electronically served, and to ensure compliance with FRAP 25 regarding the certificate of service.

However, appeal participants will still have to serve 7 hard copies of the briefs on the Court, sent the day the brief is electronically filed. ¶ 10.2. And attorneys will still have to take care to ensure that they follow the rules regarding preparing record excerpts.

If you haven’t already registered for appellate ECF, the Court’s instructions for doing so are here [.pdf].