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Judicial Council asking high court to clarify appellate rules for multi-party briefs

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//May 11, 2017//

Judicial Council asking high court to clarify appellate rules for multi-party briefs

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//May 11, 2017//

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Various judges, lawyers and lawmakers are asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify its rules for briefs filed in appeals involving more than two parties.

The Judicial Council, which is a 21-member body charged with offering up changes or revisions to the state’s rules of procedure, recently filed a petition calling on the court to change parts of Wis. Stat. 809.19, which allows co-appellants to file either separate or joint briefs. The rules fall short, according to the council’s memo, because they do not lay out how parties must respond to each other’s briefs, set length limits or state how many copies should be submitted.

The Judicial Council’s petition results from years of studying how the rules might be improved. The need for an overhaul was first pointed out in a state Court of Appeals decision handed down in 2012.

The changes now being proposed by the Judicial Council would both borrow from rules being used in Colorado and codify current court practices. The Colorado rules themselves draw heavily from Rule 28(i) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

The Judicial Council’s memo on the proposed changes notes that state courts now allow respondents to file a letter to a court stating they will not be filing a brief because another respondent’s brief represents their interests. The proposed rule changes would go one step further by explicitly letting respondents, like appellants, collaborate with each other to file either separate or joint briefs.

The council’s proposal also recommends changes for briefs filed in cases involving guardians ad litem. The State Public Defender’s Office suggested there is a lack of clarity over when briefs in these sorts of cases must be filed, according to the council’s memo.

The high court will next vote on whether to take up the petition at an open meeting. The court’s next open conference is scheduled for May 18 but the justices will not be considering the petition at that time.

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