Distinctive Practices of the Second Circuit
Files
Description
There are 12 regional federal courts of appeals in the nation, including one covering only the area of the District of Columbia. And there is another Article III court of appeals—for the Federal Circuit—whose jurisdiction is defined by type of case rather than by geography. These 13 federal Article III appellate courts have only 168 authorized active judges. With so few courts and so small a group of judges handling almost all of the nation’s federal appellate jurisdiction (with the exception of the Supreme Court), one would think that the workings of these courts and their personnel would be well known to practicing lawyers, if not to the citizenry at large. Yet this is not so. The reasons are not hard to find—the general lack of interest in the law schools in judicial administration, the tendency of the media to concentrate on the drama of the trial court of the national significance of a Supreme Court ruling, and so on. As a result, many lawyers are only dimly aware of the way in which the circuit court of appeals in their area operates. They are even les aware of the differences in customs and procedures among the circuits, some of which have assumed importance only in the last decade or two as the volume of cases in the federal courts has increased sharply. This book is a modest attempt to eliminate some of that ignorance. It is not meant to be historical or exhaustive. It is designed to educate and to kindle interest in the workings of only one of the nation’s regional appellate courts—the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Our court follows procedures that are quite different from those used two decades ago. In that respect, the Second Circuit is like all the other circuits that have had to adapt to the caseload explosion. But the Second Circuit also follows procedures that are, in significant ways, unlike those utilized in most of the other circuits, as the following pages show. But whether the procedures are new or old, unique or typical, lawyers who practice in the federal courts of New York, Connecticut and Vermont, should be familiar with them. The Federal Bar Council, and its President, David A. Trager, therefore, are to be commended for undertaking the project of publishing this book. And all of us should be grateful to Professor Ricky Revesz of New York University Law School for his editorial efforts and illuminating introductory notes. It is my hope that what follows will make it easier for lawyers to appear and practice in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Publication Date
1989
Recommended Citation
Revesz, Richard L., "Distinctive Practices of the Second Circuit" (1989). Faculty Books & Edited Works. 911.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-books-edited-works/911
