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Appellate Law

Texas Appellate Law Blog

Civil appellate practice tips, resources, and news on matters before the Texas appellate courts.
By D. Todd Smith

Post Frequency: 3.6/day

Last Entry: March 30, 2011 at 10:25:22

Some Third Court Practice Tips

Posted on September 30, 2008
As discussed previously, Third Court of Appeals Justice Diane Henson spoke to the Austin Bar Association's Solo and Small Firm Section last week. With her permission, I am posting a copy of her handout here. Justice Henson gave a useful overview of how the Third Court conducts its business and offered some useful briefing and oral-argument tips...

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinions 9/26/08

Posted on September 27, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court released seven opinions with this week's regular orders. They are: Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company (No. 05-0130) (per curiam), denying the petition for review based on its recent "captive counsel" decision, but leaving open the question of whether an insurer engages in the unauthorized practice of law by employing staff attorneys to represent its affiliates’ insureds...

Justice Henson to Address Austin Bar Section

Posted on September 24, 2008
Justice Diane Henson will be speaking to the Austin Bar Association's Solo and Small Firm Section at noon tomorrow, September 25, in the ABA seminar room. The topic will be "Practice Pointers From the Third Court of Appeals...

5 Blogs & 5 Blawgers

Posted on September 21, 2008
I've been tagged by Brooks Schuelke to participate in an "internet meme" started by the anonymous Editor of Blawg Review a couple of weeks back. The concept works sort of like a chain letter: the respondent in this meme is supposed to identify and link to five non-law blogs of interest and then tag five other law bloggers to do the same...

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What Is the Deadline for "Ungranting" a New Trial?

Posted on September 20, 2008
The headline to this post sounds like a question one might see on the appellate board-certification exam, which is coming up in a few weeks. So, in that spirit, let's do some multiple choice. Without peeking, try and select the correct answer from this list: a...

Texas Lawyers Could Use This Kind of Resource

Posted on September 19, 2008
As discussed this morning at Don Cruse's Supreme Court of Texas Blog and picked up by How Appealing, Justice Don Willett wrote an interesting op-ed that appeared recently in the online version of the Austin American-Statesman. (Note to the Statesman's editorial staff: When you receive a submission from a sitting Texas Supreme Court justice, it's probably a good idea to publish it in the print edition as well...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 9/19/08

Posted on September 19, 2008
For the third straight week, the Texas Supreme Court released no opinions with today's regular orders. This means the Court has technically issued no decisions this fiscal year. Rest assured, that will change soon. Aside from its regular business, the Court has responded to Hurricane Ike much like it did with previous disasters—by issuing an order providing for extended filing deadlines because of courthouse closures and other after-effects...

Insight for an Aspiring Appellate Lawyer

Posted on September 16, 2008
Over at his Legal-Writing Blog, Prof. Wayne Schiess offered up what one of his students wrote after expressing the desire to become an appellate lawyer and after working in the appellate-practice group at a law firm: I learned some valuable lessons about appellate practice, and the difference between enjoying something in school and enjoying it in a law-firm setting...

Texas Supreme Court Docket Analysis

Posted on September 15, 2008
At the recent Advanced Appellate Seminar, Texas Supreme Court watcher and appellate practitioner Pam Baron presented a paper summarizing her analysis of the Court's docket as of September 1, 2008. With Pam's permission, I am making her paper available here...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 9/12/08

Posted on September 12, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued no opinions with this week's orders. All eyes between here and the Gulf Coast are on Hurricane Ike. You know things are serious when high school and college football games are rescheduled.

Results of the Twitter Experiment

Posted on September 11, 2008
As mentioned here, I experimented with Twitter last week by "live-tweeting" from the Advanced Appellate Seminar here in Austin. I picked up a few followers as a result of this effort—including one who also tweeted from the CLE—but it otherwise seems as though the experiment went unnoticed...

SBOT Appellate Section Re-Launches Web Site

Posted on September 05, 2008
The State Bar Appellate Section officially rolled out its re-designed website today. The new, user-friendly interface is full of useful information and contains links to a number of handy resources. I suggest that anyone reading this blog visit the new site and bookmark it for future reference...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 9/5/08

Posted on September 05, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued no opinions with today's short set of regular Friday orders. It's nice to get a breather after last week's flood of new decisions.

Twitter Updates From Advanced Appellate Seminar

Posted on September 03, 2008
Armed with my new iPhone 3G, I'm going to conduct a little social media experiment and "live Twitter" from the Advanced Civil Appellate Practice Course tomorrow and Friday. If you're interested, follow the discussion at http://twitter...

Fifth Circuit Closed After Gustav

Posted on September 02, 2008
From his evacuation site in Montgomery, Alabama, my blogging colleague Tad Bartlett of The Bartlett Blawg reported that the Fifth Circuit will be closed following the passage of Hurricane Gustav. As he wrote this morning: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is officially closed September 2 & 3 (oral arguments for this week have been moved to Texas courthouses), and all filings due between September 1 and 5 have been automatically extended to September 8, 2008...

What Kinds of Orders Are Subject to Appeal in Texas?

Posted on September 02, 2008
This is the second installment of my series entitled "20 Questions About Texas Appellate Practice." The question answered here is: "What kinds of orders are subject to appeal in Texas?" Visit the original post (linked above) for the list of questions updated with links to their respective answers...

Revised TRAP Amendments Effective Today

Posted on September 01, 2008
Following up on this post, the Texas Supreme Court has quietly issued orders formally amending the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure and making technical corrections to the amendments. The amendments went into effect today...

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinions 8/29/08

Posted on August 29, 2008
As predicted, the Texas Supreme Court issued a monster set of orders today, releasing opinions in 22 cases (two of which were merely corrected or supplemental opinons in previously decided cases). As has been the trend recently, the Court moved some of its older pending matters, including two with "04" docket numbers...

Blawg Review #174

Posted on August 25, 2008
After two consecutive Olympic-themed Blawg Reviews, I was tempted go for a third despite my initial decision not to do so. Like most of America, I am officially entering post-Olympic withdrawal, and a celebration of what were truly a remarkable Games would have been appropriate...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 8/22/08

Posted on August 22, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued its last "summer recess" orders today. As expected, no opinions were issued. The floodgates should open with next Friday's orders. It's the last Friday of the fiscal year, so opinions issued next week will be reflected in the 2007-08 statistics.

Supreme Court Posts New Calendar Online

Posted on August 19, 2008
As the Texas Supreme Court returns from its summer break, the Court has posted its calendar in a new format on its official website. The new version is vastly improved from the old Word and PDF documents previously available, as it is much easier on the eyes and provides more detailed information about the events listed...

Seeking Appellate Advocate Authors

Posted on August 13, 2008
As many of you know, I am editor of the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section publication, The Appellate Advocate. We are filling out our roster of contributors for Volume 21—my last as editor per the Section's bylaws—and have several opportunities available for folks interested in contributing case updates or substantive articles...

Countdown to Blawg Review #174

Posted on August 12, 2008
Two weeks from today, I'll take my second run at hosting Blawg Review, the blog carnival for everyone interested in law. My first effort was fairly well received, and I find myself wondering what I can do to top it. If anyone has suggestions for a theme or any other ideas, I'd love to hear them...

How Is the Texas Appellate Court System Structured?

Posted on August 10, 2008
This is the first installment of my series entitled "20 Questions About Texas Appellate Practice." The question answered here is: "How is the Texas appellate court system structured?" Visit the original post (linked above) for the list of questions updated with links to their respective answers...

Third Court Affirms Decision Regarding Bullock's "Dream House"

Posted on August 08, 2008
I'm not a star-struck person. The few times I've seen celebrities cavorting about Austin, I haven't been fazed. But just about every lawyer in town knows the story about how Sandra Bullock's "dream house" had to be torn down (allegedly) because of defective workmanship...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 8/8/08

Posted on August 08, 2008
As expected, the Texas Supreme Court issued no opinions with today's regular Friday orders. I foresee two more sets like this one, but the orders expected on August 29 will be the last for the fiscal year. Keep an eye out for several opinions, particularly in some of the Court's older cases, to be released that Friday.

The Webcasting Trend

Posted on August 07, 2008
Between vacations and a very full workload, I haven’t been blogging all that much over the summer. Nevertheless, I got a call last week from a reporter at law360.com who saw my posts on webcasting court proceedings and wanted to interview me for an article she was writing...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 8/1/08

Posted on August 01, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued a typical set of summer recess orders today. Things will stay quiet for a few more weeks, at which time the Court will likely crank out several opinions to cap off the 2007-08 fiscal year. The new fiscal year starts September 1.

Texas Supreme Court Orders 7/25/08

Posted on July 26, 2008
With yesterday's regular Friday orders, the Texas Supreme Court denied the petitions for review in five family law cases with the following notation:The petition for review is denied. In denying the petition, we neither approve nor disapprove the holding of the court of appeals regarding the constitutionality of Texas Family Code section 263...

Supreme Court Rolling Out New Digitization Projects

Posted on July 24, 2008
Even before the Texas Supreme Court began live webcasting oral arguments and archiving recent arguments last year (previously discussed here and here), the Court had ditched its old system of recording oral argument on audio cassette tapes...

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