Many attorneys start their careers in a law firm setting. Often, those roles require working with in-house counsel to provide legal services to a company. How can attorneys transition from a client service role into working directly for the client? Join Todd Smith and Jody Sanders as they visit with Karen Delaney of Delaney Legal PLLC about her experience going from law firm to in-house to solo practice. Karen provides advice for attorneys who are looking to change their practice or role and how to navigate different paths. She also offers tips for attorneys in any legal job to communicate effectively with in-house and non-legal decision makers to help them reach their business and organizational goals. Finally, she discusses the pros and cons of setting up a virtual legal practice.

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For the lucky few who get them, U.S. Supreme Court clerkships provide a lifetime of memories in a single year. But imagine if your clerkship included not only working for a Supreme Court Justice, but also with a future Supreme Court Justice. For Professor Erin Busby, the Co-Director of the Supreme Court Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, that turned into a reality when her co-clerk, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, was confirmed to replace Justice Stephen Breyer. Professor Busby joins Todd Smith and Jody Sanders to discuss her clerkship experience and offer her insights on the clerkship process, particularly for interested law students. Professor Busby also describes the outsized impact that UT’s Supreme Court Clinic has at the U.S. Supreme Court. 

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Serving clients as their advocate takes a toll—mentally, emotionally, and physically. Bree Buchanan, Senior Advisor at Krill Strategies and former director of the Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program, is all too familiar with this problem. After years of representing clients in traumatic cases, Bree relied on alcohol to cope. As she began her recovery, Bree developed a passion for helping other lawyers take care of their own well-being. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Bree joins Todd Smith and Jody Sanders to share her experience and tips on how attorneys can care for themselves and others. She also discusses her role at the Institute for Well-Being in Law and their efforts to reshape the profession to support attorney wellness and recovery.

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The military veteran community has lots of legal needs, including legal assistance in handling veterans’ claims stemming from their service. These brave men and women often lack access to experienced advocates to help in this area, including the appellate process. In this episode, Todd Smith and Jody Sanders discuss veterans’ claims and appeals with Chris Attig, a founding partner of Attig, Curran, Steel. Chris and their team are some of our nation’s leading veterans’ advocates and are well-versed in the process. Chris shares their experience and offers tips to practitioners who might have an interest in gaining appellate experience while helping one of the most underserved populations. Chris also discusses their military background and path into appellate law as well as their firm’s focus on attorney well-being.  

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While lawyers are used to reading and speaking legalese, breaking complex legal concepts into digestible bits is a talent not all lawyers have. But, with legal issues and court proceedings frequently in the news, it’s becoming an increasingly necessary skill set. This is particularly true when attorneys need to speak to the media about legal issues and cases. This episode’s guest, David Coale, a partner at Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, LLP, has developed a talent for addressing hot legal topics in the media. David shares with Todd Smith and Jody Sanders how he uses his blog and podcast to produce media commentary about various aspects of the law that anyone can easily understand. He also offers tips for attorneys discussing their own cases or broader legal concepts in the media and how to protect their clients’ interests while educating the public.

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Employment cases present unique challenges in both state and federal courts. Attorneys who practice in that area have to operate comfortably in both forums and understand some of the traps that less experienced practitioners might miss. Sole practitioner Jason Smith has been practicing employment law in trial and appellate courts for most of his career. Jason joins Todd Smith and Jody Sanders to discuss how he handles those cases and ways to thrive in solo practice. He also discusses the impact of his time working as a briefing attorney and staff attorney at the Texas Supreme Court. Jason offers his unique perspective on using the law to help clients and right wrongs.

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This episode features the Texas Appellate Law Podcast’s first three-time guest, M.C. Sungaila. She joins Todd Smith and Jody Sanders to discuss her new podcast, The Portia Project, which chronicles the careers of women judges and lawyers and their impact on the legal profession. M.C. discusses what drove her new project, as well as her goal of inspiring a new generation of women lawyers and law students. Join us to hear about the podcast and how we can continue to make the legal profession more inclusive. 

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To practicing attorneys, the pandemic seemed to change the legal system overnight. These changes, along with preexisting systemic issues, underlie the mental-health crises that affect attorneys throughout the profession—depression, anxiety, burnout, and substance abuse. Attorneys need to acknowledge and understand those conditions, as well as how to address them properly. This episode features Katie Rose Guest Pryal, an author, educator, and attorney who researches and writes on disability and mental-health issues, focusing on public discourse, mental illness, and neurodiversity. Being neurodiverse herself, Katie strives to make the world more accessible through her scholarship and teaching. She discusses the challenges of addressing mental health and how to cope with burnout in our ever-changing world.

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Attorneys sometimes struggle to set themselves apart from their peers. One way is to find a niche and develop expertise. This is true for appellate lawyers, who, though already focused on appellate law, can cultivate unique areas of knowledge within that specialty. In this episode, Todd Smith and Jody Sanders find out what it takes to carve out a niche with non-compete and trade-secret litigation lawyer Zach Wolfe. Zach shares his experience in litigation and transitioning from working at a law firm to starting his own practice. Zach also takes a look at how the Texas advertising rules have changed and how attorneys can use them to better market themselves.

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Sometimes an appellate attorney’s most important work never reaches an appellate court. Appellate counsel can play a critical part in trial court proceedings—helping make a record, making legal arguments, and assisting trial counsel with issues that might come up on appeal. Kirk Pittard, one of the founders of Durham, Pittard & Spalding, LLP, relishes that role. He specializes in civil appeals, but spends much of his practice helping trial lawyers in state and federal trial courts. In this episode, Kirk joins Todd Smith and Jody Sanders to discuss that function and offer tips for trial and appellate attorneys about maximizing value by adding appellate counsel to a trial team.

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