Lawyer Fumbles Appellate Cold Call

And they say it gets better after law school...

In 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union called attorney B.Reid Zeh a crooked public defender. While I do not know Mr. Zeh personally, it would appear that his appointed counsel, Brent J. Savage, definitely has a few kinks in his argumentation.

The Zoom Court of Law recorded a libel case accusing the ACLU of tarnishing Mr. Zeh’s name. The issue centered on if he was a public figure, and if so, was the standard of actual malice met. Being generous, most 2Ls given such a fact pattern would be prepared to determine how interested the public is in Mr. Zeh’s work. But his lawyer, Mr. Savage,  had no time for such “Californian” concerns. If any budding lawyers would like to see how to not handle oral argument, Mr. Savage’s downhill journey in American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. v. Zeh begins here at 17:12.

I think the life lesson here is that if you don’t have enough time to, you know, familiarize yourself enough with the materials to zealously defend your client(s), hope that you get a judge like the honorable Justice Warren who was kind enough to help Mr. Savage formulate an argument for his client in real time.

Glynn County, Georgia’s Crooked Public Defender [ACLU]

I can’t keep up with you on this stuff, ‘busy trial lawyer tells Georgia Justices in public defender’s libel suit [ABA Journal]


Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. Before that, he wrote columns for an online magazine named The Muse Collaborative under the pen name Knehmo. He endured the great state of Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com.

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