Will COVID Backlogs Impact Appellate Caseloads?: The Morning Minute

CLOGGED COURTS? – Lawyers and judges are wondering if an uptick in appeals is coming as trials continue working through backlogs. Berkeley law professor Jeremy Fogel told Law.com’s Avalon Zoppo that a recent study suggests that an anticipated surge in appeals may not materialize since district court backlogs aren’t as severe as expected in the earlier days of the pandemic, when jury trials were halted across the country. The report by the Federal Judicial Center, which came out last month, found that there were fewer pending criminal defendants and civil cases on the federal docket than expected by mid-March 2022, based on pre-pandemic trends. But an increase in federal appeals resulting from trial courts working through pandemic backlogs is still possible and would likely vary court to court, Fogel said. The FJC study found about two-fifths of all districts had more pending cases than expected by the end of the pandemic’s second year.

‘A LONG WAY TO GO’ – Law firms have found that they can’t ignore the ongoing mental health crisis in the profession, particularly as it has an increasing impact on retention rates. But, as Law.com’s Alexander Lugo reports, an end-of-the-year uptick in stressors serves as a reminder that there’s more to be done. An ALM Intelligence survey shows that more than 30% of responding lawyers have felt depression since 2019. More than half of the same respondents reported that not being able to disconnect, pressure from billable hours, lack of sleep and client demands all contributed to a negative mental state.

ON THE RADAR – JPMorgan Chase filed a securities fraud lawsuit against Charlie Javice, Olivier Amar and other defendants on Thursday in Delaware District Court in connection with the plaintiff’s $175 million purchase of the defendants’ college financial aid business TAPD Inc. d/b/a Frank. The suit, brought by Potter Anderson & Corroon and Hogan Lovells, accuses the defendants of falsifying the number of students who had opened Frank accounts. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 1:22-cv-01621, JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. v. Javice et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.