Appellate Practice & Procedure
Class #8:
Tips and Strategies for Marketing an
Appellate Practice
presented by
D. Todd Smithhttp://texasappellatelawblog.com
for
Solo Practice University™
Introduction
You’ve decided to pursue appellate practice as a career.
Congratulations!
What are some concrete strategies for successfully
implementing your decision?
Build Your Resume
Law students: If early enough, pursue law review
Seek a position with an appellate justice•Federal circuit, state supreme court, or intermediate court of appeals
•An internship may help you land a paid clerkship
•Judges hire experienced lawyers, too!
Not every successful appellate lawyer has this sort of
experience, but it certainly helps
Develop Reputation & Expertise
Be visible: Let people know what you’re doing
Get to know the courts and judges
Be helpful and forthright
Do good work
If your jurisdiction offers specialization, pursue it
Traditional Marketing Techniques
•Doing “law work” in trial courts
•Handling pro bono cases
•Writing articles and giving speeches
•Bar associations, particularly committee work
•Networking with trial lawyers and judges
•Networking with industry professionals
•Networking with other appellate lawyers
•Advertising: Brochures, newsletters, websites, etc.
Law Work
See Class #2, “How Appellate Lawyers Bring Value at
the Trial Court Level”
For example:•Strategic planning and analysis (legal theories, discovery, experts)
•Motions/responses and briefing (pre-trial, trial, post-trial, etc.)
•Jury charges (drafting, handling charge conference)
•Error preservation (evidentiary issues, post-judgment issues)
But how do you get it?
Pro Bono
Good opportunity to gain experience handling appeals as
lead counsel
Sometimes will get oral argument experience from pro
bono work as well
Helpful to have a mentor to give feedback
Networking
Bar association work•Ready access to other lawyers and judges who are active
•Taking on leadership positions increases visibility and name recognition
Trial lawyers•Often have busy, “fact based” practices and need “law work” help
•Potential for contract work to demonstrate your skill set, build your reputation
•Getting involved early increases chances of working on appeal
Other appellate lawyers•Seek mentoring relationships
•Prospective referrals for conflicts work or overflow
Strategies in the Web 2.0 Age
•Blogs
•JD Supra
•Online legal directories (Avvo, Justia, etc.)
Several SPU courses address these topics in great detail
(i.e., Profs. Chartrand, Poll, Merenda, Oginski, and Black). We’ll focus
on the first two.
Blogs
Not your traditional website or online brochure•Published by one lawyer or practice group
•“Educational magazine” covering a niche area of law or a locale
•Directed to regular readers within a target audience
•Content distributed via RSS and e-mail
•Found via search engines (Google) or descriptive domain name
Can be a very effective professional marketing tool•Easy to launch and use
•Inexpensive
•Helps you become recognized as an authority
•Makes it easy for potential clients, referral sources, and media to find you
•“Newsflash: Appellate Judges Read Blogs”
Samples of Appellate Blogs
Sources of Blog Content
• Cases
• Online news
• Info from CLEs
• Info from bar publications or newsletters
• RSS feeds—what others are saying
Posting Frequency
Depends on approach—i.e., “breaking news” or more in-
depth analysis
Balance posting good content regularly with perception
that you don’t have enough “real” work to do
Short posts of a couple of paragraphs, once or twice a
week, is probably sufficient
Free service that allows participants to publish brief text
updates—known as tweets—that answer the
question, “What are you doing?”
“Marketing Your Practice in 140 Characters or Less”
(Texas Lawyer approached me about writing this article
after finding me because of my blog. It was re-published
on Law.com.)
Stay Tuned
I will supplement the lectures with posts in the Online
Classroom addressing issues covered in the course.
Contact me on the Group Wire with specific
questions, and I’ll answer and/or post on them.
Thank you!
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