Are you a young lawyer preparing a written motion for an upcoming court hearing? If so, you’re likely fretting about the best cases to cite, the most effective way to tailor your argument, and maybe even what font is most appropriate.

As you re-read and re-edit your work over and over again, you imagine the judge sitting at his office desk reading your document and marveling at its impervious logic. How could he not rule in your favor once he reads what you have to say? 

This, I assure you, is a delusion.

After a few years of practicing law, you come to realize that much (probably most) of what you submit to the court is never read.

To give one extreme example, I once had a civil case that went on for years with the same judge who took jurisdiction over the matter. After innumerable pretrial hearings and status conferences at which a plethora of pleadings had been filed, the judge confessed to me and the opposing counsel (without the slightest remorse): “Gentlemen, I have to be honest. I haven’t read one word of any of this stuff.”

Despite this, I have a friend who clerks in probate & family court. She assures me that everything that get filed in her court is read by someone at some point.

I’ve been practicing law since 2010 and I truly don’t know where the truth lies on this issue. 

It seems like judges read filings when it’s necessary to do so. For instance, almost every judge I know reads restraining order and harassment prevention order affidavits while sitting on the bench during the hearing. But these tend to be only a page long and get submitted by laypeople. Judges also glance at and sign-off on administrative-type filings. These would include motions to reschedule a hearing or to appear for a hearing via zoom. Additionally, criminal defense lawyers routinely file motions (“habes”) asking for their clients to be transported from jail to the courthouse for proceedings. But, again, these filings are usually very brief, not more than a page or two.

But when it comes to a lengthy motion making a full-on legal argument, it’s anyone’s guess whether and to what extent the judge will read it. In my experience, it seems like most judges glance at the document’s heading and maybe skim a few pages of it.  But they mainly base their rulings on what they hearing during oral arguments.

My philosophy is to keep pleadings as short and to-the-point as possible. This, I hope, will encourage the judge to read the document from beginning to end. Additionally, it’s a way of hedging my bets. If the judge reads my pleading, that’s ideal. If he doesn’t, the lose of my time and the expense to my client is kept to a minimum.