Howard J Bashman

November 06, 2006 | The Recorder

Raising too many issues on appeal increases the risk that a meritorious one will get lost in the shuffle.

By Howard J. Bashman

7 minute read

June 18, 2007 | Law.com

The U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling last week in Bowles v. Russell serves as a wake-up call to lawyers who handle appeals before the intermediate federal appellate courts, says litgator and commentator Howard J. Bashman. Think deadlines always include some wiggle room? Think again.

By Howard J. Bashman

5 minute read

March 20, 2006 | Law.com

History fails to attribute to patriot Patrick Henry the statement "Give me sex toys or give me death." So, says attorney Howard J. Bashman, it's not surprising that the legal battle continues over whether the right to obtain and use appliances intended for sexual gratification is included within the liberty protected under the U.S. Constitution. Bashman notes that the 11th Circuit in particular has become a veritable hub for sex-toy litigation.

By Howard J. Bashman

6 minute read

May 10, 2004 | The Legal Intelligencer

The month of April marked another turning point in the ongoing battle over whether appellate courts should prohibit citation to opinions designated as unpublished or non-precedential. On April 13, the advisory committee on appellate rules of the U.S. courts voted 7-2 to approve proposed Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1, which would allow all opinions, even those designated as unpublished or non-precedential, to be cited in the U.S. courts of appeals.

By Howard J. Bashman

7 minute read

May 08, 2006 | Law.com

Howard J. Bashman examines the law precluding a federal judge from presiding over any case in which he owns a share of stock in a corporation that is a party to the case. Given the frequency with which judges are unintentionally violating this requirement and stock ownership's failure to give rise to bias, or its appearance, in the many cases in which a judge's ownership interest in a company is immaterially small, Bashman concludes that Congress should consider eliminating the automatic recusal rule.

By Howard J. Bashman

7 minute read

June 18, 2007 | National Law Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling last week in Bowles v. Russell serves as a wake-up call to lawyers who handle appeals before the intermediate federal appellate courts, says litgator and commentator Howard J. Bashman. Think deadlines always include some wiggle room? Think again.

By Howard J. Bashman

5 minute read

April 03, 2006 | National Law Journal

The federal appellate courts are split over the issue of whether lawyers who will argue an appeal should receive advance notice as to which three judges have been assigned to the oral argument panel. Despite attorneys' seemingly universal preference for learning judges' identities beforehand, judges in some circuits have been able to enforce their preference against advance disclosure. Attorney Howard J. Bashman considers whether this is an area for which a uniform rule should be adopted.

By Howard J. Bashman

10 minute read

December 04, 2006 | Law.com

Two appellate courts recently ruled that an individual who intentionally visited Web sites to view child pornography, but who did not intentionally save those images to his computer's hard drive, could not be convicted or punished for possessing images that were automatically saved in the browser's cache. Litigator Howard J. Bashman explains why he considers those rulings to be badly mistaken.

By Howard J. Bashman

9 minute read

October 02, 2006 | Law.com

Raising too many issues on appeal is an occupational hazard for attorneys, according to litigator Howard Bashman. Our commentator offers his thoughts on avoiding the lure of that particular pitfall -- and also reveals the magic number of appeals that he believes an attorney can legitimately, and prudently, raise.

By Howard J. Bashman

8 minute read

March 05, 2008 | National Law Journal

After oral argument in the Exxon Valdez case, some began to speculate that the U.S. Supreme Court could divide 4-4 over whether punitive damages awarded in that case should be reduced or set aside entirely. Monday, the Court affirmed by an equally divided vote the decision under review in Warner-Lambert Co. v. Kent. Yet, little attention is paid to implementing a solution that might avoid recusal-based tie votes at the high court, writes commentator Howard J. Bashman, who offers a proposal.

By Howard J. Bashman

6 minute read