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14 ¦ DECEMBER 28, 2020 NEWS

¦ From SUPREME COURT on PAGE 13 time to ask their questions and to hear your answers.
First, I would recommend not allowing the for- Besides, on the phone, where you can’t see people
mat to increase already-high anxiety: You may be a about to say something, if you try to pivot you can
first-time SCOTUS advocate, but likely everyone in end up talking over a justice’s follow-up question.
the argument, no matter their experience, is a first-
time SCOTUS telephone advocate.
>> Jason Harrow, chief counsel at Equal Citi-
Second, moot your arguments in the same format zens, argued Colorado Dept. of State v. Baca:
as you would argue on the big day: do it over the Rather than bemoaning the loss of the chance
phone (not in-person or Zoom) from wherever you to present argument in that historic courtroom in
plan to argue using the same equipment, and ask for person, relish the opportunity to be among the first
round-robin style questioning like you’re about to lawyers ever to have their argument live streamed
face from the justices. to the whole world. Your clients, colleagues, friends,
Third, and relatedly, practice keeping your an- and family will enjoy being able to follow along live
swers to around 60 to 90 seconds, since you’re much more than you expect them to. Take comfort in that,
more likely to get cut-off for being too loquacious in even if there is some disappointment in not getting
this format than you would be in-person. to go to One First Street.
Practice how you play, as always. That means shift-
>> Nicholas O’Donnell, partner at Boston’s Sul- ing moot courts and preparation to audio-only, with
livan & Worcester, argued Federal Republic of questions going for a few minutes only with one per-
son, then the next, and so on. The goal is to simulate,
Germany v. Philipp:
The most useful preparation I did apart from my as much as possible, the real thing.
case specifically was listen to other telephonic argu- Don’t expect to be able to shape your affirmative
ments at the court since March. Hearing the pace of argument in the way you normally can, because
question and answer, the internal clock for when the there’s not just one 30-minute, ongoing conversa-
chief would step in to move to the next Justice, and the tion. Instead, take advantage of the opportunity to
structure of each justice’s questioning were very useful address the main concerns of each justice.
when I was up at the virtual lectern with scarce time.
What I would also say is that it is a unique chance >> Sanjay Narayan, Sierra Club managing attor-
where you know going in that you’ll get a chance to ney, argued U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service v. Sierra
speak directly to each justice. That’s a rare opportu- Club:
nity to respond to the concerns of every one of the There are a lot of great pointers out there from
decision makers you hope to persuade. Beyond that, better and more experienced Supreme Court practi-
I found it constructive to wait until it was all over to tioners than me, so really my advice would be to pay
reflect on the majesty and strangeness of having the attention to them and not to me. If I had to pass one
full Supreme Court of the United States on the oth- thing on, though: Some of those better and more ex-
er end of a telephone call. I felt more overwhelmed perienced lawyers advised me to remember, while I
when it was over than before. was arguing, to enjoy myself. I found keeping that
in the front of my mind, amidst the hard work and
>> Jonathan Freiman, partner at Wiggin and anxiety, to be really helpful. Appearing in front of a
Dana in New Haven, Connecticut, argued Federal really well-prepared bench, spanning a wide array of
viewpoints and concerns, is fun. It would have been
Republic of Germany v. Philipp:
Answer each question on its own terms. Don’t try a shame to have lost sight of that.
to pivot to an affirmative point you want to make, ¦

because in the new one-justice-at-a-time phone ar- Marcia Coyle, based in Washington, covers the
gument system, each justice has very little time to U.S. Supreme Court. Contact her at mcoyle@alm.
ask questions, and you want to make sure they have com. On Twitter: @MarciaCoyle

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