In this milestone episode, hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Texas Appellate Law Podcast. Reflecting on 145 episodes of conversations with judges, practitioners, and legal innovators, they discuss how the podcast has evolved alongside major shifts in legal practice—from the pandemic’s acceleration of virtual proceedings to the emergence of
Hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders welcome Adam Shniderman of Alexander Dubose & Jefferson to discuss his unique journey through academia, clerkships, and private practice. Adam shares how his academic background in criminology and forensic evidence provided a solid foundation for his legal career. He compares clerking at the Texas Supreme Court and the Ninth
The Texas Appellate Law Podcast will soon celebrate five years on the air. What began as an idea between two appellate lawyers hoping to demystify our practice area has evolved into a platform for candid conversations with judges, court staff, and fellow attorneys.
When Jody Sanders and I recorded our first episode, we had no
“Reconsideration” is disfavored in Texas trial courts. The procedural rules don’t contemplate motions to reconsider, but lawyers still file them—usually when they’re convinced the trial judge got an important but unappealable interlocutory ruling wrong.
Motions to reconsider rarely succeed. Once a trial judge has made a decision, it’s difficult to change the judge’s mind. Trial
For Chris Dove, it started when he came upon articles in Above the Law about the saga of then-95-year-old federal Judge Pauline Newman. A giant in IP law, Judge Newman faced allegations of poor health and declining cognitive abilities in 2023. Those allegations led to a council’s recommendation that the judge be suspended and
The Texas Supreme Court has directed the Supreme Court Advisory Committee (known as SCAC) to study and propose rules that would eliminate pre-grant merits briefing and prohibit central dockets like those used in Travis and Bexar Counties.
The Court has signaled its interest in the first potential change for a while now, but the second
What makes you valuable as an ‘appellate’ attorney
Have you wondered how to engage an appellate specialist to help with a critical trial-court hearing without fully bringing them into the case as co-counsel? If you’re in Travis County district court, consider a limited appearance under the Local Rules of Civil Procedure.
Local Rule 20.2 allows an attorney to file a notice of
I get this question periodically. The short answer is that the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure don’t impose a deadline. But that doesn’t mean a relator (the party wishing to challenge a trial court’s order by filing a petition for writ of mandamus) can delay pursuing mandamus relief indefinitely.
Mandamus is an
Two new statewide courts, the Business Court and the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, opened their doors on September 1, 2024. I recently served as course director for a brand-new TexasBarCLE program—Handling Your First (or Next) Business Court Case—focused on educating lawyers about these courts. The course was held on