Acknowledgments
The idea for this book arose in 2011 when Carol Rose recognized the value of a project that I had already started, but for which I had no grand designs. Without her vision, the examples of written advocacy that I had begun to gather for my students would have lingered in my private collection.
Doug Kysar shared with me his great secret, Carol McGeehan, so he is the reason that I wound up working with Aspen Publishers on this project. And that may have been the best decision that I made during the process: Carol makes publishing fun and, in a perfect world, everyone (and certainly every law professor) would know the joy of getting to work with her. She, Michael Ford, Julie Gaston, Rick Mixter, Deanna Proto, and Lisa Werhle at Aspen have the passion of artists and the precision of engineers: they kept me on the rails. Aspen's Christine Hannan and Dana Wilson demonstrated amazing insight and saintly patience. The formatting prowess of Keithley and Associates — including Meri and John Keithley and Nancy Danahy — was remarkable, as every page in this book demonstrates.
Roy Englert catalyzed the project. He fed me briefs, contacts, and enthusiasm. He is one of the best lawyers in the country, yet his character and generosity somehow dwarf his talent.
Then the cavalry arrived: I was plied with valuable materials and useful suggestions by Scott Ballinger, Elizabeth Bangs, Linda Berger, Eric Biber, Timothy Blevins, Ralph Brill, John Bronsteen, Charles Calleros, Rob Cary, Dave Chao, Kirsten Clement, Paul Clement, Walter Dellinger, Kate Desormeau, Neil Eggleston, Kathryn Fehrman, Judy Fisher, Sandy Glover, Doug Godfrey, Dick Goehler, Mel Greenlee, Rick Hess, Steve Hirsch, Steve Jamar, Lucille Jewel, Daniel Knudsen, Hon. Mark Kravitz, Mark Lemley, David Leopold, Sue Liemer, Bob Long, George Mader, Rich Marmaro, David Massengill, Patricia Millett, Seema Misra, Elliot Morrison, Anne Mullins, Michael Murray, Glen Nager, Kevin Newsom, Ben Opipari, Myra Orlen, Jonathan Pitt, Sara Rankin, Ana Reyes, Charles Rothfeld, Virginia Seitz, Kannon Shanmugam, Bob Silver, Lou Sirico, Micah Smith, Neil Sobol, Phil Spector, Sri Srinivasan, Tina Stark, Gail Stephenson, Hon.
Richard Taranto, Gabriel Teninbaum, Joe Terry, Kristen Tiscione, Daniel Walfish, Hon. John Walker, Mal Wheeler, Pamela Ann Wilkins, Brian Willen, and others. Thank you.My research assistants at Yale Law School provided enormous amounts of zeal, sweat, and firepower, so I extend deep thanks to Matt Andrews, Lewis Bollard, Christine Buzzard, Kathryn Cherry, Estella Cisneros, Kevin Jonke, Jeff Kane, Charanya Krishnaswami, Nic Marais, Iya Megre, Ester Murdukhayeva, Danielle Rosenthal, Jessi Samuels, Steve Seigel, Ray Treadwell, Caroline Van Zile, Emily Weigel, Rachel Weiner, Paige Wilson, Eileen Zelek, and Joanna Zhang. Lauren Hartz and Zach Keller went far beyond what I could have ever expected from research assistants, producing massive amounts of great work. Pat Florio was a pleasure to work with: her attention to detail and cheerful willingness to enter countless edits freed me to focus on the fun parts of this project. Robert Post and Brent Dickman of Yale Law School supported me at every step. I am grateful for their faith. Dean Post also shared me with Karl Llewellyn's unpublished advice about advocacy; it appears in print, for the first time, thanks to his keen eye — and thanks to the generosity of Professor Llewellyn's nieces, Sandy Mentschikoff Levedahl and Jeanne Mentschikoff, who authorized me to use that document, which appears in Appendix A. I am grateful to them for letting me share this spectacularly insightful document and for allowing me, in some tiny way, to link myself to one of law's titans.
Almost twenty anonymous reviewers sent detailed and helpful comments on various parts of the book. Thanks, to whomever you are, for both the encouragement and the valuable suggestions. Richard Neumann also reviewed a sample chapter when the project began; he provided priceless insights and more encouragement than he realizes.
Almost two hundred friends helped me to crowd-source the title of this book. Thanks to all of you.
Many colleagues at Yale and two luminaries at the University of Chicago helped in hundreds of selfless, kind ways, so I thank Emily Bazelon, Bill Eskridge, Gene Fidell, Larry Fox, Heather Gerken, Abbe Gluck, Linda Greenhouse, David Grewal, Yair Listokin, Daniel Markovits, Jeff Meyer, John Nann, David Odo, Nick Parrillo, Claire Priest, Judith Resnik, Lior Strahilevitz, Michael VanderHeijden, John Witt, and Judith Wright.
My partnership with Dan Kahan during the course that we co-taught ripened my thinking about this subject. Dave Lat provided wise counsel about the project in its earliest stages. Ross Guberman shared great advice and gave a spectacular pep talk at a pivotal time. And Shay Dvoretzky is a champion: it's easy to prepare a book about advocacy when one of the most talented appellate lawyers in the country is willing to answer any question about any subject at any hour.Then there's Rob Harrison. Rob pulled me into teaching, taught me most of what I know about this field, and then guided me through the shoals during this project. This book would never have happened without him.
Mom and Dad helped me in countless tangible and intangible ways — but most important to this project, they infused me with a love of good writing. My journey into most of the great books that I ever read began with Mom saying, “I think you’d like this.” And Dad wrote the first brief that I ever read. He tried to save a man’s life. I was eight years old and his writing was so clear that I understood most of what the brief argued. So I was blessed with two great, loving teachers from an early age. Mom, Dad—I love and thank both of you.
Owen Laszlo Messing generously shared me with this project during the first twenty months of his life, yet he still cheered me on every single day. And finally, to my wife, Lori Bruce: You are wonderful, brilliant, and beautiful, and I’m grateful for your love, support, patience, and stellar advice.