Upson v. Wallace’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Even a skilled lawyer who represents himself is at a disadvantage in contested litigation.... He is deprived of the judgment of an independent third party in framing the theory of the case, evaluating alternative methods of presenting the evidence, cross-examining hostile witnesses, [and] formulating legal arguments, and in making sure that reason, rather than emotion, dictates the proper tactical response to unforeseen developments in the courtroom. The adage that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client is the product of years of experience by seasoned litigators.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Lori A. Saxon . Todd D. Zirkle and Jane Khoury and Olivia Baker

2. “As a general rule, subject matter jurisdiction may not be waived ....”); see also Super. Ct. Civ. R. 12(h)(3) (”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Neill v. District of Columbia Public Employee Relations Board