The Wrong Stuff Revisited: Pronouns And Non-Discriminatory Language

In this article written for The Advocates' Society Advocacy Matters, Tamara Ramsey pays homage to satirical articles from the Honourable Marvin Catzman and comments on the importance of hyperlinking court materials in the electronic era.

In the Summer 2002 Issue of The Advocates' Society Journal, the Honourable Marvin Catzman provided his "Losing Tip No. 12: Fling their own words back at them", which was part of an entertaining and insightful series of losing tips that started with his piece: "The Wrong Stuff: How to Lose in the Court of Appeal." I am revisiting "The Wrong Stuff" to see what holds true and share some of the new ways you can lose in the electronic era.

With reference to an unnamed judge in a hypothetical scenario about how judges' words are recorded, Justice Catzman used the pronoun "she" and in his notes stated: "I wrestled with this pronoun. As you recall, I use "she" and "her" when referring to nice people, and "he" and "him" when referring to