This blog on legal writing is the work of attorney Mike Skotnicki. The purpose of Briefly Writing is to discuss topics that may be of interest to appellate specialists and other attorneys  who write complex briefs. The posts on this blog are intended to serve as a source to create discussion among appellate lawyers and judges about the process of brief writing and what qualities make one brief better than another in presenting persuasive argument. The opinions expressed here are the opinions of Michael Skotnicki only, are presented here for informational, entertainment, and discussion purposes only and do not constitute legal advice.

Mike Skotnicki is an appellate lawyer licensed in Alabama and admitted to practice in the Alabama state and federal courts, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. After law school, he accepted a clerkship with the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and then became a staff attorney for three Associate Justices of that Court. In the five years he was with the Alabama Supreme Court, he wrote about 80 opinions for those Justices that were published by the Court. He has been in the private practice of law since 1998. He is currently Of Counsel with the law firm, Simpson, McMahan, Glick & Burford, PLLC. He was previously Of Counsel and Chair of the Appellate Practice Group at Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker, LLC, in Birmingham, Alabama, where he practiced law from 2001 through 2011.

Mike Skotnicki hase either been the lead attorney or part of a team that has filed briefs in the Alabama and Mississippi Supreme Courts; the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second; Fifth; Eighth; Ninth; and Eleventh Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court.

He is rated an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated lawyer, the highest rating by the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings.