What the Litigators Among Justice Breyer’s Clerk Family Tree Picked Up From the Noted Pragmatist

Deanne Maynard spoke to AmLaw Litigation Daily about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who plans to retire at the end of this term.

“When his law clerks would give the justice a draft of an opinion, he would put it on the typing stand next to his computer and start over” so his opinions have one voice and sound like the justice talking, said Deanne, who clerked for Breyer in 1994-95, adding that the same approach is useful for briefs. “They need to have one voice – and often the most effective way to communicate a point is to figure out how you would explain it if you were talking, and then just write that down.”

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