As I’m posting this, I’m participating in a telephone oral arg before the 6th Cir.
How’s that for multi tasking?
Impressive.
Not that I’d want you representing me, mind you, but impressive none the less. 
Yackety blah. Plaintiff’s atty’s do go on and on …
Hey, aren’t you Michael Feldman?
Hey, wait a minute. Dinsdale, you type in what the judges ask you and us Teeming Millions will give you the answers. They won’t know what hit 'em!!
one of the judges got disconnected in the middle of my brilliant argument!
They haven’t asked me anything yet.
Am I astouding them w/ my brilliance, or baffling them…
Disconnected, or did his head land on the phone as you put him to sleep?
So the guy gets back on and is all confused.
I had given 2/3 of my arg, he heard none of it. I have to figure out how to cover the ground again, without boring the shit out of the other 2 judges.
So he comes back on with an attitude. My opening remarks were about 15 seconds long - he interrupts me in the middle and tells me to get to the main points, which I would have already done if he hadn’t jumped on me.
Then I make this incredibly simple argument - our policy says a certain finding must consider factors A through F. In no case, especially this type, can the ALJ rely only on factor A.
P argues ALJ improperly relied only on A. My argument is the decision-maker DID consider A-F. This judge asks me where the “A” is supporting the decision. The problem is that he does not even understand what the def of “A” is, and gets all pissed at me for failing to answer his incorrect question “yes or no.”
I had a hard time figuring out what his confusion was, cause I couldn’t quite believe he could be as wrong as he was. Don’t think the confusion would have happened face-to-face in open court.
One thing I found a bit troubling - I love appellate arguments, and am quite good at them. Being yelled at by a judge doesn’t bother me in the least. And I appreciate the challenge of trying to clear up any confusion or ambiguity, or change a judge/panel’s mind to accept my position.
On the phone, I felt myself getting pissed. Which is something that has never happened to me in court, and something you definitely don’t want to do with a Cir. Ct. judge. Think of a moderator who could do considerably more than ban you.
Oh well. Time for a lunchtime workout. Maybe a session on the heavy bag.