Michigan’s Governor filed a supplemental brief to the Michigan Supreme Court while the Court considers her April 7, 2022 Executive Message. The nicely formatted brief makes for an easier read. Six things stand out. [1] Spacing. Nice spacing is used in the arguments section of the table of contents page, the authorities index, and between…
Category: Hyperlinks
The “write” stuff: 15 writing tips for the self-represented
Folks write and (e)file their own court papers in civil and criminal cases each day. Ordinary people—like Clarence Earl Gideon (handwritten in pencil) and Steven Alan Levin (formatted in Microsoft Word)—have successfully petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States on their own. The Michigan Supreme Court ordered oral argument on two handwritten applications filed…
Understanding and using Word’s Styles and templates to format legal briefs (a guide)
If I had a dollar for each time I’ve read or heard a well-intentioned person say, “Lawyers (or law students) need to learn how to use Styles and templates when writing their legal briefs . . .” And, yet, for all of those who encourage, “You should,” I’ve never seen someone also point to a…
Should an uncertified “transcript” generated by AI software and unknown online gig workers be presumed as “non-record evidence”?
The digital transcripts Against the backdrop of the continuing novel COVID-19 pandemic, the Michigan Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments of first impression. How much authority Michigan’s governor can exercise under the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act or the Emergency Management Act is the focus of In re Certified Questions from the United…
Capturing, linking, and citing a web page that displays live (and changing) data
Backstory Perma.cc, an online linking tool, reliably avoids the “link rot” perils that often frustrate future citation readers who “click” to non-operable or modified webpages. Perma.cc smartly generates moment-in-time permanent links (Pema Links) to cited webpages. These Perma Links and the captured content remain—even when the original cited webpages are later modified or deleted. There…
“Let the clicked-on record reflect”
Hyperlink with care. When writing a brief, opinion, report, or other type of permanent document, including hyperlinks to online sources requires thoughtfulness and an eye toward future years. As a default best practice, writers should use perma.cc to create preserved and short links. Why? Think back to why you want to add the link. Hyperlinks…