DRAFTING SKELETON ARGUMENTS: ROUNDING UP THE POSTS

Here we look at some guidance, and some previous posts on this blog, about drafting skeleton arguments.

“Sir James Hunt has told us of the (unattributed) judicial reaction on receiving a 35 page document which was to the effect “This is not a skeleton, it’s a fat stiff’. Nor would attribution add to the impact of the remarks of a judge who received a manuscript document covered in coffee seals on the morning of trial and said it was “difficult to read, disgusting to touch and impossible to understand. It is worse than no skeleton at all”

USEFUL GUIDANCE

• Some of the best guidance going can be found on a Gray’s Inn website “Skeleton Arguments: A Practitioner’s Guide”.
• Skeleton arguments: get the font size right and the length correct: or it could cost you.
• Advocacy – the judge’s view: being persuasive “Convoluted arguments are sleeping pills on paper”.
• There is a special ring in hell for a certain type of advocate (and you know who you are).

JUDICIAL COMPLAINTS AND COMMENTS ABOUT SKELETON ARGUMENTS

There are plenty of reports of judges complaining about the length of “skeleton arguments”.

• This is a sorry tale of woe: speculative skeleton arguments are of no assistance.
• Picking up bad citations: & skeleton arguments – still too long.
• Skeleton arguments: do them properly or you won’t get paid (the triquel).
• Skeleton arguments: if you don’t do them properly you won’t get paid.
• Drafting a skeleton or want to serve an additional skeleton argument? Then you had better read this
• Useless bundles; lengthy skeletons and judicial ire: The Court of Appeal rules inability to impose “old fashioned” sanctions.
• Skeleton Arguments too long & amount of documents “absurd”: a justifiable judicial complaint.
• Bundles too big, skeleton arguments too long – then the court may simply refuse to accept them: preparation for hearing goes off the tracks.
• “Unnecessary, unhelpful and unacceptable”: over-long skeleton arguments – again.
• More on lengthy skeleton arguments.
• Witness statements too short: skeleton argument too long.

LATE SKELETONS AND SANCTIONS

• Late skeleton arguments, adjournments and the overriding objective.
• Drafting a skeleton or want to serve an additional skeleton argument? Then you had better read this
• File a skeleton arguments – in is mandatory.
• Late skeleton arguments and late evidence: the government should do better
• Get bundles and skeleton arguments to court – or else.