An 8-Page Petition Strikes GoldLawyers who file petitions in the Supreme Court usually land on 20-30 pages after taking advantage of every precious word in the rule's 9,000-word limit. But last week a rare eight-page
petition hit the jackpot when the justices
grantedreview in the consumer debt collection case Rotkiske v. Klemm.
Matthew Weisberg of
Weisberg Law in Morton, Pennsylvania, was counsel of record for Kevin Rotkiske in a case involving the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Weisberg told us he had three things uppermost in mind when writing the petition:
>> "I never argued nor submitted a petition to the Supreme Court, so I reviewed their rules. It says about 15 times—well, a lot of times—to be concise and get to the point. I took that seriously."
>> "In drafting it, I recollected an interview with a Supreme Court justice—it was either Stevens or Souter—and that justice said they get what he called over-length briefs all the time, but every once in a while, he gets a thin one and knows that's a winner. I took that to heart."
>> "It's a relatively precise issue (whether the 'discovery rule' applies to toll the one-year statute of limitations under the FDCPA) and the question presented is short. Other than presenting why they should take it, I remembered what Mark Twain once said and why: 'I apologize for such a long letter—I didn't have time to write a short one.'"
Weisberg, whose opposing counsel is
Jones Day partner
Shay Dvoretzky (whose
brief in opposition was 12 pages), said he is excited and daunted by next term's argument. The idea of spending hundreds of hours preparing for the argument "is daunting for someone who has a small private practice," said Weisberg who calls himself a "sole proprietor" with a number of of counsel and associated counsel relationships.
Weisberg said that within 24 hours of review being granted on Feb. 25, he had received about a half dozen inquiries from law school clinics, public interest groups and private lawyers who wanted to be co-counsel in his high court case. "They all promised tremendous collaboration but when I inquired as to details, they all wanted to be counsel of record on the brief and to argue the case," Weisberg said.
Weisberg said he is not "shutting the door" to co-counsel, but, he added, "I know the case better than anyone. I've briefed it three times already and argued it three times. But this is the U.S. Supreme Court. It's a big deal. I'm listening to what everybody has to say, but ultimately I have a client and my client knows me and we've been at it for awhile."
Weisberg has already signed up for a moot court at the Supreme Court clinic at Georgetown University Law Center and he is speaking with others about help with "the laboring oar." As for his client, Weisberg said, "He is very excited. He said he can't believe he is going down in the annals of history."
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