Show respect for judges even when they are wrong.

Referring to judges correctly and deferentially is a nonnegotiable requirement of strong legal writing.

Apr 20, 2025

Legal ethics rules require attorneys to uphold the “dignity of the tribunal” and behave as “officers of the court.” This includes treating judges with respect. Attorneys often inadvertently violate this obligation by referring to judges without appropriate deference, berating a lower court during an appeal, failing to capitalize the word “court” when required, or using an incorrect judicial title. Each blunder is discussed below.

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Refer to courts respectfully and deferentially.

Always address and refer to courts formally, respectfully, and deferentially, even when you believe they are wrong. Here are two improvable examples:

“The Court must reverse.” (It is fine to say that the court “should” do something, but don’t say that it “must” do something.)
“The District Court failed to consider ….” (The word “failed” has a pejorative connotation. “Did not consider” works just as well.)

Refer to lower courts respectfully on appeal.

Appellants have an uphill battle to convince judges to reverse their colleagues. Reversal is a public rebuke of the lower-court judge. Therefore, as Steven D. Stark put it in Writing to Win, appellate lawyers should raise their points “more in sorrow than in anger.”

Here’s an example of how not to write about a lower court’s opinion on appeal:

The district court failed even to address several aspects of the mental health system that Defendants demonstrated are constitutional—screening, mental-health-records management, medication management, and protocols for use of force and discipline concerning mentally ill inmates. . . . In the court’s mistaken view, because the State had ‘gone for the home run ball’ by seeking to terminate the whole case, it was not entitled to have the court consider the appropriateness of its control over individual aspects of the mental-health system.

Capitalize the word “court” correctly.

The word “court” should be capitalized in three circumstances:

When addressing a particular court (e.g., by writing “The Court should reverse” in an appellate brief);
When referring to the United States Supreme Court; and
When referring to the highest court in the jurisdiction whose laws govern the outcome (e.g., a state supreme court).

Here’s an example that would be incorrect if one were citing a case called Smith v. Jones that was decided by an intermediate appellate court rather than the U.S. Supreme Court or the highest court in a state:

In Smith v. Jones, the Court held . . . .

For more tips about capitalization, see this post.

Use judges’ correct titles and honorifics.

Judges have to work hard to achieve their status and expect to be recognized with appropriate titles and honorifics.

As noted above, when referring to the current tribunal in a filing, use “the Court” or “this Court.” Here are some guidelines for other situations:

When referring to a judge orally in the second person, use “Your Honor.” In the third person, use “the Court” (as in, “The Court previously ruled that ….”). Avoid informal substitutes like “you,” “Judge,” “sir,” or “ma’am.”
When writing a judge’s name on an envelope or listing a clerkship on one’s resume, use “The Honorable [Judge Full Name as listed on the court’s website or in judicial opinions].”1
In legal filings, when referring to judges other than the presiding judge, use “Judge [Judge Last Name]” or “Justice [Justice Last Name],” depending on the court. (Judges on the United States Supreme Court have the title “Justice,” for example.)

Referring to judges correctly and respectfully is a nonnegotiable requirement of strong legal writing.

The post above includes text from my book Elegant Legal Writing (Univ. Cal. Press 2024), which is available on Amazon and Audible. Please help me sustain the book’s momentum by rating it five stars and sharing my posts with your network.

Ryan McCarl is a partner of the business litigation firm Rushing McCarl LLP and author of Elegant Legal Writing (Univ. Cal. Press 2024). For more tips about legal writing and argumentation, subscribe to the Elegant Legal Writing blog and follow Ryan on LinkedIn. McCarl’s book is available on Amazon and Audible.

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See Bryan A. Garner, The Redbook: A Manual of Legal Style §18.4(d) (4th ed. 2018).

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