© 2012 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
Consider it the perfect post-Christmas gift for appellate law junkies. The American Bar Association has published the Appellate Practice Compendium, a one-of-a-kind, two-volume insider’s guide to all of the appellate rules and procedures for any court in the United States.
The book is a kind of Appellate ‘Law for Dummies’ who need to compare their own systems to those in other states.
The Texas chapter was written by two of the state’s most knowledgeable attorneys in the area of appellate law: Leane Medford and Robert Dubose – both of whom are board certified specialists in civil appeals. They also are known for their expertise in using e-briefs in court cases – a hot topic due to the Texas Supreme Court’s recent ruling on e-filing.
Medford, a shareholder in Polsinelli Shughart’s Dallas office, specializes in commercial litigation and appellate practice. She has represented clients in the Third, Fourth, Sixth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals. She serves on the executive board of the ABA’s Council of Appellate Lawyers, was a faculty member of the Appellate Practice Institute and serves on the Leadership Council of the Texas Bar Appellate Section. Medford received her Bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University and her law degree from Baylor University School of Law.
Dubose, a partner at Alexander Dubose & Townsend in Houston, focuses his practice solely on appellate cases. He primarily assists clients with corporate governance issues, insurance coverage and commercial and contractual disputes. For more than a decade, Dubose taught an appellate class at the University of Houston Law Center. In 2010, he authored Legal Writing for the Rewired Brain: Persuading Readers in a Paperless World, which explains the digital phenomenon the legal community is undergoing in regard to e-briefs. It also provides tips to lawyers for how to write for an audience that is increasingly reading briefs on iPads, tablets and computer screens. Dubose received his Bachelor’s degree from Rice University and J.D. from Harvard Law School.
The Appellate Practice Compendium is currently on sale exclusively through ABA’s website, but will hit other retail sales outlets in April 2013.
In the Q&A below, Medford and Dubose elaborate on the ins and outs of the content and writing process of the chapter.
TLB: Who reads the Appellate Practice Compendium?
Medford: I found the project from its inception to be very intriguing because the book was actually written from an insider’s perspective for someone who would be handling an appeal who didn’t regularly practice in the state. The target audience is different than any appellate practice community in Texas.
TLB: What makes the Texas chapter of the Appellate Practice Compendium different from other publications out there about the appellate rules in Texas?
Dubose: Most [other] published [works] about appellate law in Texas are geared toward Texas appellate procedures. This is geared to lawyers in other jurisdictions looking into Texas to see what’s different about Texas compared to other jurisdictions. It’s geared to someone examining different states around the country as opposed to someone just doing appellate practice in Texas.
TLB: So what makes Texas different from other jurisdictions?
Dubose: A number of states have a single appellate court, or they have two or three intermediate appellate courts and then the state supreme court. In Texas you have 14 courts of appeals, the Texas Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals. It’s a very complex court structure and very rule-intensive so there was more to say about Texas than there was to say about a number of other states.
In some extent appellate procedures are different. The way Texas courts review a jury’s information of evidence for instance is different than many states and there are some other aspects of procedure that are unusual.
TLB: What trends are currently going on in the appellate practice in Texas?
Medford: One of the most recent trends is twofold. One trend being that the court is not only encouraging but requiring electronic copies of briefs to be filed which is driving attorneys through suggestions of court to be very creative and [hyperlink] their briefs for courts’ convenience. Another significant trend is that the Texas Supreme Court has moved its practice to be more similar to federal courts in terms of length limitations being by word count. I don’t think it will be a difficult transition because I believe that most practitioners have a familiarity with federal circuit practice.
TLB: What did you personally learn from researching the Texas rules for this chapter?
Dubose: What was interesting was how the rules on electronic filing change very rapidly. When we wrote the [section] on filing procedures in Texas we had to change it several times as courts changed their rules. I had to stay more on top of the rules than usual because I had to think about what was coming ahead in electronic rules. I became much more knowledgeable about what was going on with the electronic filing changes.
TLB: What was the writing process like?
Medford: It required quite a bit of work, but the actual topics and format were predetermined by the editor so that all the chapters for each state were uniform. I collaborated with Mr. Dubose to determine how we would divide up specific sections of the chapter. We had pretty regular conference calls to discuss content and look at each other’s sections and provide feedback. It was an incredible experience to work with him.
Dubose: It was very nice to co-author with Leane. I absolutely would co-author again. I’m used to collaborating and I’m not sure I could write something without collaborating.
TLB: How difficult was it to balance your writing duties for the chapter and your everyday responsibilities at your practice?
Dubose: My firm encourages its lawyers to be involved in publications. I took off more than a month a few years ago to write my other book. My firm is used to us taking extra time to do something like this because we believe it’s important for the profession and our development as lawyers.
Medford: I feel strongly that part of my role as an attorney is that I also need to contribute to the legal community to improve it for all lawyers. I feel it’s our obligation to grow personally and also to contribute to the legal community so I just make the time to do that.
© 2012 The Texas Lawbook. Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specific licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.