SUPREME COURT TO CONVENE WRIT PANELS
IN BRISTOL, WILLIAMSBURG

[Posted June 21, 2012] Every Virginia attorney knows that the Supreme Court conducts its business in Richmond. In recent years, the court has sent justices to more remote corners of the Commonwealth on one occasion only – the July writ panels. The court has used these panels as an opportunity to bring the court closer to the people, so to speak. This has the advantage of reducing travel time for lawyers in some cases.

This year, for the first time I can recall, there will be no July writ panels; the court has discontinued those. I don’t know if this change will be permanent. But that doesn’t mean the end of the court’s “road shows”; the court will travel for panels in late August. One panel will meet in Richmond on the afternoon of August 29; two others will convene the next morning – one in Bristol and the other in Williamsburg. The latter one may take place in the law school at William & Mary.

As I’ve written before, I encourage those of you with an appellate practice, and those of you who want to sharpen your appellate skills, to make time to see these panels. You’ll get to hear as many as a dozen arguments in just a couple of hours, and you’ll get some great examples of what to do and (ahem) what not to do in appellate courts. Hey, you wouldn’t handle a trial without at least watching one of those first, right? Here’s your chance to see plenty of appellate advocacy, up close. And they even bring the show to you.