Volume 2, Issue 1

Table of Contents

CAL Leadership

Past Issues

The Appellate Advocacy Task Force has commenced its review of state and federal court systems that have implemented separate admission requirements or certification standards for appellate practitioners. Our objectives are: (1) to assess the means these courts have adopted to improve appellate advocacy; (2) to learn from their individual and collective experiences; and (3) to make recommendations to the Executive Board of the Council of Appellate Lawyers on future areas of study and possible action points. We anticipate that, through the work of the Task Force, CAL can serve as valuable resource and sounding board for state and federal appellate courts that are considering vehicles for improving the quality of advocacy. In short, they should be able to turn to CAL for practical information on measures that work and those that do not.

Having collected the standards and application forms from almost all relevant jurisdictions, our two next steps are as follows: (1) to generate a comprehensive, uniform set of areas of inquiry so that our study of existing programs will have the necessary consistency to permit useful comparisons; and (2) to develop a list of appropriate contact persons in each relevant jurisdiction so that our efforts can proceed smoothly and expeditiously. These contacts should include practitioners, judges, court administrators, clerks of court and staff counsel, as it will be most productive to have input from all component groups in the appellate process.

Although only a small number of jurisdictions currently have appellate certification systems (or appellate court bar membership requirements), our information-gathering process will require substantial resources and time commitments. To that end, we will need to supplement the small membership of the Task Force with additional volunteers from the CAL membership. Through the Executive Board and the CAL newsletter, persons interested in participating in this project should be encouraged to contact the me, Jerry Ganzfried, (by e-mail) at ganzfriedj@howrey.com (or by telephone) 202-383-6512.