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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

Review of Litigation Announces Appellate Symposium

Posted on November 13, 2008
The Review of Litigation, a student journal at the University of Texas School of Law, has asked me to help promote its upcoming symposium entitled “The Rise of Appellate Litigators and State Solicitors General.” Timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Texas Solicitor General's Office, the symposium will explore the creation of state solicitor general and state appellate chief positions, as well as matters significant to private appellate practitioners...

Extensions of Time in the Third Court

Posted on November 12, 2008
Dealing with the ever-present problem of conflicting deadlines, I recently filed a motion for extension of time to file a reply brief in the Third Court of Appeals here in Austin. My opponent kindly agreed to a 30-day extension, which I determined would be more than sufficient to get the brief done and manage my other cases...

Microblog Roundup 11/11/08

Posted on November 11, 2008
A sample of my microblog updates from the past week appears below. As before, I'm including only those relevant to this blog or otherwise of interest to appellate practitioners. To receive all of my updates, follow me on Twitter at at @dtoddsmith...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 11/7/08

Posted on November 07, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued no new opinions with this week's orders. After several quiet weeks, and now that the election is over, I would expect some decisions next Friday.

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Texas Appellate-Court Election Results

Posted on November 05, 2008
Despite speculation that Democrats might pick up at least one spot, no Texas Supreme Court seats changed hands yesterday. Chief Justice Jefferson and Justices Wainwright and Johnson each handily defeated their opponents, so the Court will remain all-Republican a while longer...

Microblog Roundup 11/4/08

Posted on November 04, 2008
A sample of my microblog updates from the past week appears below. I've decided to include only those relevant to this blog or otherwise of interest to Texas appellate practitioners. To receive all of my updates, follow me on Twitter at at @dtoddsmith...

Fall Appellate Advocate Now Available Online

Posted on November 04, 2008
The Fall 2008 issue of The Appellate Advocate is now available through the State Bar Appellate Section's newly revamped website. As usual, the publication is packed with interesting articles and useful case updates. As a service to its members and the public, the Section has elected to post the electronic version before the print edition is mailed...

If An Appeal Is Not Available, Do I Have Any Other Options for Obtaining Higher Court Review?

Posted on November 02, 2008
This is the fourth installment of my series entitled "20 Questions About Texas Appellate Practice." The question answered here is: "If an appeal is not available, do I have any other options for obtaining higher court review?" Visit the original post (linked above) for the list of questions updated with links to their respective answers...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 10/31/08

Posted on October 31, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued no new opinions with this week's regular orders. Happy Halloween!

"A Whole New World": Recent Developments in Texas Mandamus Practice

Posted on October 28, 2008
That was the title of a CLE presentation I gave last Friday to members of the Austin Bar Association as part of its Fourth Friday CLE series. In addition to some basic mandamus principles, I covered recent rule changes affecting mandamus practice and how recent Texas Supreme Court decisions have treated the requirement that relator have no adequate remedy at law...

Microblog Roundup 10/28/08

Posted on October 28, 2008
Here's a sample of my microblog updates from the past week or so. Follow me on Twitter at at @dtoddsmith, Per recent media contacts, I'm quoted & my blog is mentioned in this Texas Lawyer article re judicial race, http://tinyurl...

On Reluctance to Engage Appellate Counsel, Part 2

Posted on October 27, 2008
Following up on this post, Greg May at the California Blog of Appeal has completed the third and fourth installments of his series discussing the reasons trial lawyers or their clients choose not to engage appellate counsel. The entire series is available through this link...

Oral Argument Rituals

Posted on October 26, 2008
Over at MyShingle.com, Carolyn Elefant has posted on some of the things she does to prepare for oral argument and has solicited others' stories. Here is what I told her: I don't have what I would consider to be rituals or superstitions...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 10/24/08

Posted on October 24, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued no opinions with this week's orders. Of interest, the Court issued stays in three mandamus cases, a subject on which I happen to be speaking today (mandamuses, not stays).

Microblog Roundup 10/21/08

Posted on October 21, 2008
Microblogging consists of brief text updates published broadly or to a restricted group chosen by the author. My microblog can be found on Twitter at @dtoddsmith, where I invite you to become a follower. Recent microblog posts include: New at TALB: Announcing creation of Texas Appellate Law LinkedIn Group: http://tinyurl...

Welcome to the Reverse & Render Blog!

Posted on October 20, 2008
Another Texas appellate blog has burst on the scene. The appellate practice group at Cowles & Thompson, P.C. has launched Reverse & Render, which (according to its welcome post) was created "with the goal of providing useful information to civil appellate practitioners and to the public at large...

Join the Texas Appellate Law Group on LinkedIn

Posted on October 20, 2008
LinkedIn has become a useful networking tool for professionals, and lawyers are no exception. Six months ago, the number of lawyer profiles on LinkedIn was estimated at just under 120,000. As more lawyers become educated about the value of social media, there's no telling how high that number will climb...

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinion 10/17/08

Posted on October 17, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued one opinion with this week's regular orders. In DiGiuseppe v. Lawler (No. 04?0641), the Court (Third Court of Appeals Justice Alan Waldrop—appointed under Tex. Gov't Code § 22.005—joined by Justices Hecht, Wainwright, Brister, and Willett) held that a real-estate purchaser seeking specific performance of the contract had to prove that he was ready, willing, and able to perform and request a jury question on that issue...

Law Bloggers Meet-up in Austin Tonight

Posted on October 16, 2008
LexBlog's Kevin O'Keefe and I will be getting together around 8:00 tonight while he is here in Austin speaking at a State Bar program on thought leadership and reputation management. Law bloggers and others are welcome to join us...

Blog Action Day 2008: Appellate Pro Bono Programs

Posted on October 15, 2008
Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that encourages bloggers, podcasters, and videocasters around the world to post about the same issue on the same day. Its aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. This year's theme is poverty...

Statistics I'd Like to See

Posted on October 15, 2008
As I ponder yet another case in which the court of appeals has declined to hear oral argument, I'm wondering whether anyone has compiled statistics on how often the trial court's judgment is reversed in that situation. In other words, based on sheer numbers, should we be telling our appellant-clients that they're probably hosed if oral argument has been denied?

What Is Required to Perfect Appeal?

Posted on October 14, 2008
This is the third installment of my series entitled "20 Questions About Texas Appellate Practice." The question answered here is: "What is required to perfect appeal?" Visit the original post (linked above) for the list of questions updated with links to their respective answers...

Microblog Roundup 10/13/08

Posted on October 13, 2008
Microblogging consists of brief text updates published broadly or to a restricted group chosen by the author. My microblog can be found on Twitter at @dtoddsmith, where I invite you to become a follower. As evidence that I'm not a total law dork, the content there is a little more personal...

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinion 10/10/08

Posted on October 10, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court re-issued one previously released opinion with this week's regular orders. In Kerlin v. Sauceda (05-0653) (originally decided 8/29/08), the court made the following wording changes at the end of the last complete paragraph on page 12 of the PDF version: But if a nonresident’s is amenable to service of process under the longarm statute and has contacts with the state are sufficient to afford personal jurisdiction under the general longarm statute, as was the case with Kerlinit is undisputed Kerlin’s were, then we can discern no reason why a nonresident’s “presence” in this state would not be established for purposes of the tolling statute...

"Appellate Practice Marketing 2.0"

Posted on October 09, 2008
That was the title of a CLE presentation I gave today to the San Antonio Bar Association's Appellate Practice Section. In addition to "traditional" techniques—such as doing “law” work in trial courts; handling pro bono appeals; writing articles and giving speeches; bar association work; and networking with trial lawyers, industry professionals, and other appellate lawyers—my main focus was blogging...

Appellate Court Internal Operating Procedures

Posted on October 08, 2008
Appellate courts are often criticized as being stuck in the "ivory tower," largely because their work is done out of the public eye and is therefore shrouded in mystery. Among other recent efforts to make the appellate process more transparent, nearly all of the intermediate Texas appellate courts have posted their internal operating procedures on their respective web sites...

On Reluctance to Engage Appellate Counsel

Posted on October 06, 2008
Why don’t some trial lawyers or their clients engage appellate counsel when it comes time for the appeal? That's the question my blogging cohort Greg May has posed over at the California Blog of Appeal. Greg has begun a series of posts in which he examines the reasons commonly provided when trial lawyers or their clients are faced with an appeal and choose not to engage appellate counsel...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 10/3/08

Posted on October 03, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued no new opinions with this week's short set of orders. The Court will be in conference on Monday and Tuesday of next week, so next Friday's orders may be livelier.

Microblog Roundup 10/01/08

Posted on October 01, 2008
Taking a page from tech guru Dennis Kennedy's book, and as an extension of what I did here, I'm going to experiment with posting occasional roundups from my Twitter feed on this blog. (Dennis, Walter Olson, and at least a few others have taken to calling their Twitter accounts "microblogs," which seems both accurate and catchy to me, so I will do the same...

Microblog Roundup 10/1/08

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