In writing a brief it’s easy to fall into the trap of copying and pasting into your text a long passage from a key opinion that contains a thorough discussion of the critical issue and that court’s reasoning for its ruling. Certainly, you think, the judges of the court that you are submitting your brief to will want to see more than a sentence or two quoted from that opinion, and with a long quotation can read for themselves the entirety of the critical part of the opinion without having to search through the entirety. Isn’t that the proper approach? The consensus from judges and experienced appellate attorneys is that it is not. Far from it. The fact is, long block quotes are most…