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Suppose Attorney John, representing Mr. A, is writing a brief for the case A v. B.

Representing Mr. B is Attorney Mike.

In the brief that Attorney John is writing, he cites the case X v. Y, where Mr. X prevailed on similar arguments Mr. A is relying on.

The interesting thing is that in X v. Y, the attorney who represented Mr. X was none other than Attorney Mike.

Is there any value in pointing out to the court that it is Attorney Mike who made this winning argument previously? Is this unprofessional? Is it frowned-upon? Or is it a good subtle way to win over the court?

jwodder
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lgshost
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1 Answers1

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It happens. It is generally considered to be in poor taste as an ad hominem argument. It would rarely help your case to say so.

The only time it would really help your case is if the other side, for example, says "the undersigned is unaware of any case that says X" when in fact, the undersigned was a lawyer on a case that did say "X", in which case it would undermine the credibility of a statement made in the other side's brief.

I've also seen it done when a brief argues that attorney fees of $X or $Y per hour" are unreasonable when the same attorney has authored an affidavit or brief or expert report stating that the same fees were reasonable in another case.

ohwilleke
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