Amicus Curaie Submissions

All Amicus requests shall be funneled to the Chair, and disseminated by the committee. The committee’s mission is:

• To determine the merit of each case, and to gauge the chances for a successful outcome.
• The committee will vote to accept or decline each request for Amicus assistance.
• The committee will notify the submitting attorney of the committee’s decision, and;
• The accepted cases shall be completed in a timely manner, to the satisfaction of the court system.

Submitting a Request

AMICUS REQUESTS MUST BE SUBMITTED TO: amicus@utahassociationforjustice.org

Amicus requests shall be submitted in accordance with the guidelines as outlined below.  Litigants should note that these guidelines must be complied with as much as is practicable in light of the time constraints involved in filing an Amicus Brief, as well as the scarce resources available to prepare it:

1.  Requests from litigants shall be directed to the chair of the UAJ Amicus Committee and the Executive Director of the UAJ.  Each new fiscal year, the Secretary of the UAJ Executive Committee shall act as Amicus Chair. The Treasurer of the Executive Committee shall sit as Vice-chair. No amicus brief shall be submitted to any court on behalf of UAJ without prior approval of the Amicus committee.

2.  Due to the extremely short time period currently allowed for filing of Amicus Briefs, applicants are encouraged to bring cases with issues that are substantially likely to go the Supreme Court to the attention of the Amicus Committee early in, or before, the Appellate process; in any event, cases should be submitted for consideration at or before the time of appeal to the Supreme Court.

3.  Amicus requests shall be by letter and accompanied by the following:

a. A short and concise memorandum setting forth the legal issue(s) addressed by the appeal;

b. Previously submitted briefs and opinions including the Notice of Appeal and Docketing Statement, with exhibits, together with Supreme Court order granting certiorari, if applicable;

c. A list of significant cases that an Amicus brief must consider;

d. A brief statement explaining why UAJ should grant the request with specific reference to the UAJ selection criteria, addressing the impact of the case on the Plaintiff’s bar and its clients.  The practical implications of a reversal or affirmation by the Appellate Court should be briefly addressed if possible;

e. For Amicus requests prior to the Utah Supreme Court level, a statement setting forth “exceptional circumstances” to justify earlier UAJ involvement.

f. The date by which UAJ must seek Amicus Relief.

4.  For cases which are not before the Utah Supreme Court, the requesting party will be required to demonstrate the importance of the issue(s) presented; how UAJ support will benefit the party,the bench and bar at the present state of litigation; the likelihood of the case eventually progressing to the Supreme Court; and practical considerations such as the level of commitment of the requesting party and his/her client to pursuing the case and other factors meriting UAJ involvement.

5.  The requesting party shall furnish any additional material or information requested by the Amicus Committee.

6.  The requesting party shall have a continuing responsibility to apprise the Amicus Committee of developments in the case from the time the initial request is submitted.

Case Selection Criteria

In reviewing a request for appearance as Amicus Curiae, UAJ shall consider the following criteria:

1.  Whether the legal issues involved are of substantial interest to the Plaintiff’s civil trial bar and consistent with UAJ’s principles and philosophy.

2.  Whether the legal issues involve novel or previously unresolved questions, the disposition of which are likely to have broad-range effects beyond the particular case.

3.  Whether the legal issues involved affect fundamental rights of individuals or are of  constitutional dimension.

4.  Whether the case presents an opportunity to further advance the interests of consumers and victims.

5.  Whether the case presents an opportunity to ameliorate or reverse prior judicial decisions or legislative enactments which adversely impact the rights of consumers or victims, including but not limited to statutory limitations on the amount of a citizen’s recovery for injury to person or property and the application of statutory remedies as a bar to common law remedies.

6.  Whether the briefs of the parties before the court, or briefs of other Amicus Curiae, adequately present the legal issues.

7.  Whether the facts presented are strong enough and the record sufficiently developed to support the position to be asserted.

8.  Whether the position to be asserted is appropriate in view of recent pronouncements of the appellate courts.

9.  Whether there exists sufficient time to request and receive amicus status and properly prepare a brief.

10. Whether sufficient resources are available, given UAJ’s budget, to grant the particular request.

11. A request from the court itself for an amicus brief will be honored absent “exceptional circumstances.”

The foregoing criteria shall not preclude UAJ’s consideration of cases presenting other issues not enumerated, nor shall a case purporting to present one of the considerations listed necessarily merit involvement by UAJ as Amicus Curiae.

Attorney(s) working on Amicus must specifically request, and obtain, leave to participate in oral argument, separate and apart from leave to file Amicus brief, if Amicus wants to be part of the oral argument.  Agreement by parties is not sufficient.