An Appellate Lawyer Makes a Trial Team Better

Originally published by D. Todd Smith.

A while back, the folks at Texas Lawyer invited me to submit an article on how appellate counsel may play a supporting role in the trial court. The article is now available online and will appear in next week’s print edition.

In the article, I focus on four areas in which an appellate lawyer can support trial counsel, particularly in jury cases. (Here, I will add a fifth area that comes up in bench trials, although the article doesn’t discuss it.)

1. Theory, strategy, and error preservation
2. Dispositive motions
3. Jury charges and formal charge conferences
4. Post-trial motions and judgment formulation
5. Requesting and preparing proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law

As I conclude in the article, trial lawyers and their clients should consider retaining experienced appellate counsel to handle these sorts of tasks and perhaps even sit second or third chair at trial. This arrangement allows trial lawyers to focus on what they do best and thus serves the client’s interests.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Got Credit.

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