‘Empty Head’ Errors Lead to Attorney’s Reprimand

An attorney who filed multiple appellate briefs that changed the body of her original brief was publicly reprimanded by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Briefs aren’t supposed to be moving targets, the per curiam Oct. 12 opinion said.

Lee Ann Lowder filed an appellate brief in the underlying case on March 30, 2018 containing an appendix that needed to be redacted. The court ordered her to make the redactions.

On April 11, Lowder filed the redacted appendix along with a brief that included changes to its body. She was ordered to resubmit the brief with just ...