Federal Appellate Court Stats for 2025
Last week, the federal judiciary released its case statistics for the year 2025. In the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, there was a slight uptick in the numbers of appeals filed from 2024. For 2024, there were 2,456 cases filed, while in 2025, the number was 2,471....
Writing advice from two Federal Appellate Court Judges
Recently, two judges from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Chief Judge Pryor and Judge Newsom offered an important suggestion to federal appellate brief writers: begin the brief with an introduction.
The judges wrote a letter to the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules pushing for an amendment to Federal Appellate...
Develop Your Appellate Arguments
A recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit illustrates the perils of the "argument by incorporation" strategy. In United States v. Scott, Case No. 24-1903, the Defendant was convicted following a bench trial of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, along with possession with intent to...
Is Your Federal Appellate Brief Appendix Complete?
A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit highlights the imperative nature of attaching an appendix that adheres to the federal rules of appellate procedure. While federal appellate courts across the country enforce the appendix requirement, the Seventh Circuit is a stickler. The case, United States v. Harold...