Judicial Plagiarism, by Tiffany Johnson, Esq., Good Legal Writing Blog

http://goodlegalwriting.com/2015/03/08/judicial-plagiarism/#more-497

Have you ever argued a motion and had the court rule directly from the bench awarding you your requested relief? Didn’t you feel like the cool kid that day? Chest puffed out a little bit while you tried to restrain yourself out of respect for opposing counsel? And after winning your motion, did the court dump the task of drafting the order on you? Of course it did. No court has time to actually draft orders, right? That’s the least you could do after the court was gracious enough to rule in your favor. And even though it was another tick to your to-do list, you secretly welcomed that chore, because it meant you got to tweak the wording of the order precisely to your client’s advantage. Am I off here? No. You know this drill.

Well, hold your horses, cowboy. A recent case from Tennessee illustrates the possible dangers that may lie ahead up in them there hills. . . .