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76 Ohio St. L.J. Sixth Cir. Rev. 1 (2015)

handle is hein.journals/osljsxcr76 and id is 1 raw text is: OHIO STATE LAW JOURNAL SIXTH CIRCUIT REVIEW VOLUME 76 Will a Judge Read My Brief?. Prejudice to Pro Se Litigants from the Staff Attorney Track COLTER L. PAULSON* TABLE OF CONTENTS I. IN T R O D U C T IO N ..................................................................................... 1 II. CRITICISM OF THE STAFF ATTORNEY TRACK ........................................ 2 III. THERE Is LITTLE OR No EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE THE ALTERNATE TRACK RESULTS IN WORSE OUTCOMES FOR PRO SE LITIGANTS IN THE FEDERAL APPELLATE COURTS .................................................... 4 IV . C O N CLU SIO N ..................................................................................... 7 I. INTRODUCTION Few outside of court employees and appellate attorneys know there is a two-track system at the Sixth Circuit and all other federal appellate courts. On the familiar track, the appeal is assigned to a federal judge, who will receive input from her clerks, discuss the case with her colleagues, often after oral argument, and issue a reasoned decision applying the law to the facts. On the less well-known track, the case is assigned to staff attorneys who will review the briefs and draft a succinct opinion without oral argument. Unlike law clerks, staff attorneys do not work for a particular judge, and are usually supervised by a more senior staff attorney rather than a judge.1 The opinion drafted by the staff attorney will be reviewed and approved by a panel of federal judges, and will sometimes result in an unsigned per curiam opinion.2 * Colter L. Paulson, Senior Associate, Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group, Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP. I See 6TH Cir. I.O.P. 202(c)(3) (The court appoints a senior staff attorney and supervisory staff attorneys to supervise the staff attorney's office. The office provides legal support to the court as a whole, rather than to individual judges by making dispositional recommendations in those cases that the court has decided do not require oral argument .... ). 2LAURAL HOOPER ET AL., FEDERAL JUDICIAL CENTER, CASE MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES IN THE FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEALS, 39 (2d. ed. 2011), available at http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/caseman2.pdf/$file/caseman2.pdf (cataloguing differing procedures on handling pro se appeals).

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