At barely 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is the youngest of the 13 federal circuit courts of appeals, and the most unique. Each of the dozen elder appellate courts presides over cases from a particular region known as a judicial circuit, but the Federal Circuit’s geographic jurisdiction, like that of the Supreme Court, is nationwide.

     “It is a fascinating place to work,” says Chief Judge Haldane Robert Mayer from his courthouse office across the street from the White House. “Our decisions often reverberate throughout the nation, even globally.”

     Those decisions span a range of legal subjects: patents and other intellectual property, international trade, government contracts, a variety of claims for money from the government, federal personnel matters, veterans benefits, Indian lands management, and vaccine injury compensation.

     “We have our share of heavy, complex cases,” says Chief Judge Mayer. “Preparation is a must for our judges.”

     Judge William Bryson agrees, adding, “A patent case today can involve sophisticated electronics, cutting-edge biotech or computers ... you really have to bear down.”

     Appeals come to the court from more than 100 tribunals, including the 94 federal district courts, the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the board of contract appeals.

     About 28 percent of the cases in a typical year come from the district courts, and almost all of those are patent-infringement disputes. The rest are mostly Little Tucker Act lawsuits – claims under $10,000 against the government.

     Patent-infringement cases often present as many as 10 issues involving the validity and infringement of a patent, inequitable conduct and other defenses, counterclaims, attorneys’ fees, and damages.

     The volume of cases reaching the court each year (1,748 in fiscal year 2002) has grown over the years, and now is double what it was when the Federal Circuit court began its work in October 1982.

     The appellate division of the U.S. Court of Claims existed for 57 years and the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals for 53. As the result of recommendations in studies that date back to 1971, Congress merged the two venerable courts into the Federal Circuit.

     Then-Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1971 appointed a study group to propose remedies for the Supreme Court’s burgeoning workload. The recommendation that emerged was a National Court of Appeals that would screen cases before they got to the Supreme Court. The proposal was dead on arrival on Capitol Hill, but in 1972 Congress created a Commission on Revision of the Federal Court Appellate System.

     The commission, popularly known as the Hruska Commission after its chair, Sen. Roman Hruska (R-Neb.), also recommended a National Court of Appeals. That recommendation, too, went nowhere in Congress despite many lawmakers’ acknowledgment that conflicting judicial rulings in patent cases among the regional circuit courts were problematic.

     “A particular need was seen in the field of patents, where instability in the law was having a detrimental effect on an important segment of our society – the industrial and business community,” states a text about the Federal Circuit court’s early history. “Our nationwide businesses needed conformity in interpretation of patent laws in order to make decisions conducive to research and productivity.”

     In President Jimmy Carter’s administration, the Justice Department’s Office for Improvements in the Administration of Justice, headed by former University of Virginia law school professor Daniel Meador, recommended merging the Court of Claims’ appellate functions and the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.

     President Carter proposed such a new court in early 1979 – a proposal that was greatly aided by endorsement from the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal Judiciary’s policy-making entity. Congress passed the legislation, and President Ronald Reagan signed the act into law in April 1982.

     The new court made its home in the same redbrick building that had housed its two predecessors on Lafayette Square in the heart of the District of Columbia. Now named for the Federal Circuit’s first chief judge, it is the Howard T. Markey National Courts Building.

     On one recent morning inside the courthouse, arguments began promptly at 10 a.m. in three different courtrooms. In each, a panel of three judges vigorously questioned the lawyers standing before the bench. The Federal Circuit court’s 12 active judges typically sit in three-judge panels and hear arguments in four cases a day for five days, the first week of every month.

     “The court prides itself in sitting every month of the year,” said Jan Horbaly, who is both circuit executive and clerk of court.

      Each of the active judges is required to be available at least 10 months a year to hear arguments. The court’s senior judges help the panel rotation by making themselves available at least three months each year.

     Judges and cases are assigned to panels randomly, and the panels change daily. “We’re thrown into a different mix every new day, which is a great aid to collegiality,” Judge Bryson reports. “This place really feels more like an institution than a set of islands.”

     The institution, by law, is required on occasion to take to the road. In recent years, the court has heard a week’s worth of arguments in Boston, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Greensboro, St. Paul and Austin. A changing cast of five to eight judges usually comprise the court’s travel squad.

     When the court travels to the Cleveland area in April, it will conduct oral arguments at two law schools, Case Western and the University of Akron.

     Joining Horbaly in serving as the court’s senior staff is a senior technical assistant, senior staff attorney, administrative services officer, librarian, automation and technology office chief, and an operations officer. The court employs 126 people.

     “The court has more than met the hopes of its proponents in deciding difficult issues and providing greater uniformity and predictability in the several areas of its jurisdiction,” stated Robert Baechtold, president of the Federal Circuit Bar Association. “We who appear before it especially appreciate that the judges come to arguments thoroughly prepared, and put both sides through a rigorous examination of the facts and legal principles involved.”

     Horbaly said the court “is an important addition to the federal Judiciary, and it is staffed by first-rate judges and outstanding personnel who serve the nation well.”