Appellate
In addition to the Band 1 group rating, the Chambers USA 2023 directory ranked nine of our appellate litigators as leaders in Texas, ranked one, Nina Cortell, as the top-ranked appellate lawyer in the state, and ranked one, Daniel Geyser not only in Texas but also Nationwide. As one of the largest full-time teams of any national law firm, we have earned national recognition through decades of dedicated service to our clients and collaboration with trial lawyers. We’ve won precedent-making victories in bet-the-company appeals, and we’ve earned the respect of judges across the country along the way.
What we bring to the table before judgment is entered is often as important as what we do afterwards. Clients appreciate our collaborative, laser-focused approach to shaping litigation strategy, preserving error, prosecuting and defending expert witness challenges, crafting and arguing the jury charge, and preparing all manner of legal briefing before, during and after trial. After a judgment is entered, we use cutting-edge empirical studies we conceived and conducted to evaluate the likely outcome of the appeal and guide our appellate strategy.
Most of our appellate lawyers have clerked for federal or state court judges (or both), and four are members of the prestigious American Law Institute. Our lawyers have chaired national and state appellate law bar groups, including the American Bar Association’s Council of Appellate Lawyers and the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section, and one is a former president of the State Bar of Texas. Three of our lawyers have been selected by the Texas Bar Foundation as winners of the Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award (in 2015, 2016, and 2019). We also are regularly invited by the federal and state judiciaries to speak at judicial conferences as the lawyers chosen to help judges stay informed about complex, cutting-edge areas of law.
We’re proud to gain many clients through the recommendations of lawyers at other firms who recognize our skill, experience, and collaborative approach in the trial and appellate courts.
Haynes and Boone, LLP Lawyers Mark Trachtenberg, Kent Rutter and Ryan Pitts authored an article in The Texas Lawbook on case comparisons depicted in scattergrams offering a useful proxy for evaluating excessiveness. Read an excerpt below: How trial and appellate courts should review challenges to outsize noneconomic damages awards has been the talk of the Texas bar. While the Texas Supreme Court’s [...]