Tips for Persuasive Legal Writing | Luther Munford | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Legal Writing for the New Generation | Chad Baruch | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Why Lawyers Should Care About Typography | Matthew Butterick | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Leveraging Technology to Improve Legal Writing | Ross Guberman | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Psycholinguistics and Legal Writing | Judge Robert Bacharach | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Using AI to Improve the Briefing Process | Jacqueline Schafer | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Helping the Court Decide Your Case | Justice April Farris | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
It’s not every day that the Court of Appeals spends almost 12 pages talking about the appellate rules, including why rules compliance is so important. But that’s exactly what the Court of Appeals did in Harney v. Harney. ...more
Join us in fabulous Las Vegas for a program that will benefit all attorneys involved in appeals. Sessions will include discussions on building an appellate practice, practical advice for presenting a persuasive appellate...more
Lawyers are professional writers, and the ability to write persuasively is more important than ever. In this episode, Luther Munford, an appellate expert and former law professor, joins Todd Smith and Jody Sanders for an...more
It is crucial for an appellant drafting an initial brief to adequately identify and describe all claims and issues the appellant intends to raise for appellate review. Apart from the obvious advantage of providing as much...more
Thirty years ago, Justice Scalia famously described the Supreme Court’s Lemon test as “some ghoul in a late-night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and...more
We previously posted on Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(i), which is the rule governing the adoption of part or all of another’s brief. We initially looked at decisions addressing the burden on a party to...more
The Court of Appeals’ latest batch of opinions includes several reminders about the importance of proving that appellate jurisdiction is proper in an appellant’s opening brief. Not in a conclusory fashion. Not in the...more
When you hear about an appellate decision, what comes to mind? Typically, I think of a formal “opinion”—at least when the appeal has been briefed on the merits. And historically, I have thought of an “order” as a short...more
Any Texas attorney who has been to a legal writing CLE knows Chad Baruch of Johnston Tobey Baruch. Chad has taught countless attorneys throughout the United States how to provide engaging and analytical briefing in both trial...more
Attorneys spend a lot of time choosing the right words to use in briefs and motions. But they often neglect thinking about how their words actually look on the page. Layout and typography can impact how legal work product is...more
Transitioning from private practice to the bench is an adjustment even in the best of times. But First Court of Appeals Justice April Farris made the switch in the middle of a pandemic when court operations and proceedings...more
Last week I blogged about the Fourth Circuit’s recent published opinions that, due to the pandemic-prompted suspension of Local Rule 36(a), did not have the usual oral argument. The research for that post revealed that...more
We are two weeks out from arguments in the Federal Circuit’s August sitting, so it is time for our monthly oral argument recap. As it has done for the past several years, the Court heard arguments on only three days in...more
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of North Carolina published its internal “Guidebook” for citation, style, and usage. You may recall that a few years back, a lawyer obtained a copy of and began selling the U.S....more
You are on your feet at the podium and you have told the appellate panel who you are and whom you represent. What is the first substantive thing you should now tell the court (always assuming you get that opportunity before...more
Appeals happen. Maybe you won in the trial court and the other side wants to challenge, or maybe you lost (but that must have been a mistake, right?). Either way, you need to preserve your arguments and prepare for an appeal...more
Appellate advocates should write briefs that make life easier for law clerks and judges. That will increase their chances of prevailing on appeal. With that in mind, we recently conducted an informal survey of our firm’s...more
SC20088 - Arciniega v. Feliciano - One slate of petitioning candidates for a town committee election sued to have several signatures on the competing slate declared invalid. The competing slate intervened and filed a...more
Appellate Court Advance Release Opinions: Husband and wife defendants were related to the husband and wife plaintiffs. The defendants were convinced the plaintiff husband (a state trooper) was abusing his wife, despite her...more
Appellate Court Advance Release Opinions: AC39520 - Stratek Plastics, Ltd. v. Ibar - Remember the case that held you could not recover your attorney fees in a mechanic lien foreclosure as the plaintiff unless there had...more
Several amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure are scheduled to take effect on December 1, and one of those amendments is causing consternation among appellate practitioners: a 1000-word reduction in the word...more