Better better than my junior, who put liquidated instead of compensatory damages in a Plaint and that mistake was missed until after filing.
I do remember being part of a Civil Suit, where the entire pleadings including annexed documents ran to 54,000 pages, and the applicable rules required that 40 copies be made. The plaint was 300 plus pages long.
Unsurprisingly the case was settled.
You just made me feel better about a civil suit I’ve got with only 7 binders of disclosure sitting by my desk!
I’ve been researching a matter that has yet to be decided by the court. The Statement of Defence of the first defendant, who is represented by a lawyer, runs to three (yep, 3) pages. The Statement of Defence of the other defendant, who is unrepresented, runs to 56 pages. This is an employment matter; a wrongful dismissal lawsuit.
The first defendant, presumably on the advice of his lawyer, has not filed a counterclaim. The second defendant (who, as you recall, is unrepresented) has filed a counterclaim that runs to 12 pages.
I’ve never filed a Statement of Claim, a Statement of Defence, or a Counterclaim, that is in excess of three (yep, 3) pages in such a matter.
I don’t know how things are going to turn out for the second defendant, but it would seem to me that given what the first defendant is doing on the advice of his lawyer, brevity is best.
Last week I received a 132 page divorce decree.
Our attorneys are, for the most part, brief. However, we have two that I try to avoid obtaining opinions from - nothing is a yes or no question and the simplest query includes a lesson on historical precedence, how certain judges would rule, dis/agreement with statute as it’s currently written… in court, they are wonderful though.
Brevity is certainly the soul of wit - and of good pleading. I would far rather read five pages of gold than twenty pages of dross. Say what you need to say, say it well, and then for the love of God, stop!
As former Justice Estey of the Supreme Court of Canada once said:
“Be clear.”
“Be brief.”
“Begone.”
I know (sigh) I know. When I’m drafting a claim or an affidavit in support, or indeed a deed/contract of some nature, it always feels inadequate to finish with three pages.
The client looks at it uncertainly and compares the ream of documents from the other side. The judge (who is busy) can be overwhelmed by the weight of documents and look for an easy answer.
I wonder if you and I even mean the same thing by ‘brief’.
I’ve had a look at the example exam answers provided for the California preliminary law examination (the one that tests if you know enough about the criminal law to even get into their exam system)
And every point is made two or three times! Introduction. Points with headings ordered one way. Points with headings in a different order. Summary. Conclusion.
On the example, each point is made clearly and briefly, clearly and briefly, clearly and briefly. I can see that it makes points easier to find, if you expect to find every point made again in it’s proper place in every section, but d’m, that’s not what I call brief.
If you have the facts, pound the facts.
If you have the law, pound the law.
If you have neither, pound the table.
Having worked for two federal judges, I can tell you that they appreciate brevity. No need to gunk up a SJ brief or an appellate brief with irrelevant issues or narrative.
Just for clarity, I’m in New Zealand but the day to day work of being a lawyer is the same as it is in the USA, Canada, India, and the UK - all of of which use British based legal systems. Indeed I’m confident the Roman/Napoleonic legal systems in Europe are equally wordy and all-consuming.
The thing is, lawyers assiduously pursue their clients cases even when those cases are difficult to argue. For example, would you consider a snail in a gingerbread bottle in 1928 to be significant? Nasty but so what?