"Oscar: Jeff, I generally like the new draft. I appreciate that you're the appellate specialist, but I think there are many things about this brief that just won't appeal to the court. Jeff: Tell me. I'm always open to improvements. Oscar: Good. I've represented Julius Joints for many years. All my filings use the possessive Julius'-just the apostrophe, no extra s. My understanding is that that's correct for a word ending in s. So please make this correction."
"Jeff's team has concluded that Oscar seems (1) unfamiliar with style manuals such as The Chicago Manual of Style, The Redbook and The Bluebook; (2) wedded to some old-style legal conventions that will disserve the client before an appellate court; and (3) unaware of recent writings on legal advocacy. Jeff has worked with such co-counsel before, and he's hoping that a little diplomacy will smooth things over."
Two law firms collaborate on an appellate brief for Julius Joints Inc. Oscar served as trial counsel for years and wants to remain involved through the appeal. Jeff's appellate boutique firm was hired as lead counsel. Oscar's redlines revealed divergent stylistic approaches, and Jeff's team accepted roughly 20% of Oscar's suggestions. Jeff's firm concluded that Oscar appears unfamiliar with major style manuals, adheres to old legal conventions that may harm the client's prospects on appeal, and seems unaware of recent advocacy literature. Jeff hopes diplomacy will reconcile the differences; a dispute over the possessive Julius' versus Julius's illustrates the clash.
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