Hayes v. Quiros, 947 F.2d 941, 1991 U.S. App. LEXIS 25408 (4^th Cir. 1991), unpublished – decided October 29, 1991 - United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit – Robert E. Hoskins

I represented Hayes. This is not an ERISA case, but it is very special to me. I had not even been admitted to practice law, but a year when my senior partner, Paul Foster, told me that I would be arguing, by myself, before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (which for laymen, is the next step before the US Supreme Court). I had never argued in front of any appeals court before and to appear before such a high federal court was almost overwhelming. Nothing went right the day of the argument in Baltimore. Upon waking in my hotel room, I discovered that I had failed to pack a belt. I had graduated from law school not too long before and had recently lost a lot of college weight. (See picture above. I was young once.) I literally had to hold my suit pants up through the oral argument (as in the picture). Prior to my argument, nobody gave me any instruction and I pretty much got it all wrong. Being very young (and inexperienced), I did not realize that federal appeal court judges have many law clerks and are quite well informed of the facts and arguments in a case before oral argument. For non-lawyers, I can tell you that usually in an appeals court you have 15 or 20 minutes to argue your case. While holding up my pants, I proceeded to lay out the facts of my case for at least 10 minutes. Finally, Judge Niemeyer, of the Fourth Circuit, advised me that the panel was well aware of the facts of my case and that I should proceed to the argument. That comment really threw me off and I really do not remember what I said after that point. All I know is that several months later I received the opinion from the Fourth Circuit ruling with my client. It was truly a valuable learning experience. (Click here to view a copy of the court’s opinion)