A bunch of good Third Circuit oral arguments

If you want to get better at oral argument, how do you do it? I recently had a big Third Circuit argument (link to the audio here, if you’re curious), so I’ve been puzzling over that question a lot. You can work harder to prepare for each individual argument, you can read books about oral advocacy, and you can practice not saying, “I try not to read that many cases, your Honor. . . . That’s why I wore a suit today,” like this fellow did. All helpful.

But one of the best ways to improve at oral argument is to listen critically to good arguments. It’s easy to find good Supreme Court arguments, but finding circuit arguments takes a bit more work. The Third Circuit posts audio of all of its arguments online (low-quality audio, alas), and video of a handful, but you have to know which cases to look for.

For this post, I’ve pulled together links to some Third Circuit oral arguments by some excellent oral advocates. (Plus one Supreme Court argument because I couldn’t bear to leave Judge Bibas out.) To be clear, this isn’t a list of the best Third Circuit arguments or advocates — for each one linked here, there are many others I could have included. But if you’re looking for model arguments from our circuit, I believe this list will get you off to a good start.

 

Future Third Circuit judges and Third Circuit nominees

Cheryl Krause — Mitchell Partners v. Irex Corp.argumentopinion

Stephanos Bibas — Tapia v. US* — argumenttranscriptopinion

Peter Phipps (also Ted Olson and Paul Clement) — NCAA v. Governor II (panel) — argument [he starts at 47:10] — opinion

Rebecca Haywood (vs. Lisa Freeland) — US v. Thompsonargumentopinion

* Supreme Court argument.

 

Former Third Circuit judges

John Gibbons — Gov’t of V.I. v. Lansdaleargumentopinion

Timothy Lewis (vs. Robert Zauzmer)– US v. Kempargument [he starts at 32:20] — opinion

 

Former solicitors general

Paul Clement, Ted Olson — NCAA v. Governor II (en banc) — argumentopinion

Neal Katyal — City of Philadelphia v. Attorney Generalvideoaudio [he starts at 26:15]

Seth Waxman (vs. James Martin) — Avaya v. Telecom Labsargumentopinion

 

Third Circuit Bar Association presidents

Chip Becker — L.R. vs. School Distargument [he starts at 16:10] — opinion

Lisa Freeland — In re: Hoffnerargumentopinion

Peter Goldberger — US v. Hirdvideo [he starts at 9:50, 37:50, and 43:00] — audio

James Martin — UGI Sunbury v. Permanent Easementvideo

Nancy Winkelman — Huertero v. USargumentopinion

Andrew Simpson — Sala v. Hawkargumentopinion

 

Other Third Circuit advocates

Howard Bashman  — A.S. v. Smithkline Beechamargumentopinion

Ellen Brotman — US v. Richardsonargumentopinion

Ilana Eisenstein — US v. Cooperargument [she starts at 13:13] — opinion

Jonathan Feinberg — US v. Bennettargumentopinion

David Fine vs. Robert Zauzmer — US v. Rosarioargument

Arianna Freeman — Brown v. Superintendentargumentopinion

Lisa Mathewson — US v. HIrdvideo [she starts at 19:15] — audio

Bruce Merenstein — US v. Fattahvideo [he starts at 19:00] — audio

Katherine Romano — Katz & Assocs. v. Concepts in Healthargument

Matthew Stiegler (me) — Reeves v. Fayette SCI argument opinion

 

Other advocates from outside the circuit

Michael Carvin — Ehrheart v. Verizon Wirelessaudio [he starts at 11:35] — opinion

John Elwood — USA v. EME Homer argument [he starts at 28:25] — opinion

Roy Englert — In re: Tribune Mediaargumentopinion

Miguel Estrada — Crystallex Int’l v. Venezuelavideoaudioopinion

David Frederick — In re: Zoloftargumentopinion

Deepak Gupta — In re: NFL Players Concussion Injury Litig.argument [he starts at 21:25]– opinion

Alan Gura — Binderup v. AGargument [he starts at 12:50] — opinion**

Orin Kerr — US v. Auernheimerargumentopinion

Christopher Landau — In re: Jevic Holdingargument [starts at 14:20] — opinion

Patricia Millett — In re Nortel Networksargument [starts at 28:10]– opinion

Andrew Pincus — DE Coalition v. Strineargumentopinion

Carter Phillips — Gonzalez v. Owens Corningargument [he starts at 20:10] — opinion

Tejinder Singh vs. Kannon Shanmugam  — Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotiveargumentopinion

** The links are for the panel argument and the en banc opinion. Here is the en banc argument.