New York Lawyer
May 28, 2002

Q:
After six years as a general commercial litigator with a large firm, I quit in order to be home to raise my children. Now they're old enough for me to go back to work on a part-time basis.

I would really like to do appellate work, because I like research and writing, but I've never done appellate work before.

How do I get my foot in the door?

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A:
Even assuming the marketplace does not assign you "ding points" for having the nerve to abandon the profession for something as trivial as raising a family, and assuming it still credits you with sixth-year judgment and maturity, the acknowledgment "I've never done appellate work before" represents a major barrier. At this point in your career, employers are likely to look more for experience than zeal.

Furthermore, at least in my area (I live in Philadelphia), an entrepreneurial attempt to set up a contract research business and several different shots at creating appellate-work-only litigation support practices did not fly. It's hard to tell if the issue was that the idea wasn't accepted by the profession or whether their efforts were ineffectively or unconvincingly marketed -- although the contract research enterprise appeared well-organized and professionally marketed. The problem, by the way, was not in finding qualified researchers from around the country; it was in finding customers.

So all in all, the appellate arena may not qualify as a hot market.

That said, we all know there is a continuing stream of appellate work and that a lot of litigators don't enjoy it or know they're not good at it.

In large firms there usually is someone to whom appellate research and drafting can be assigned, but in mid-size firms and boutiques the appellate work frequently gets short shrift. There undoubtedly is a window of opportunity here.

Your options would seem to be a) seeking placements through one of the burgeoning legion of legal contract/project/temp firms; b) advertising your services in your local legal newspapers and seeing who calls; and c) the development of some initial projects and "house accounts" through personal networking and mining of contacts.

First, of course, you must develop a credible portfolio of work product. It probably won't suffice just to trot out a few writing samples of briefs or junior-associate research projects stapled to your resume.

I would create a "case study portfolio" where each entry includes a statement of what the research and/or writing issue was, a summary of how you analyzed and researched the project, and then a copy of your written work product. This can include law school work, if it is mature and impressive. This binder (or you could develop it in Web site form) must look like a polished marketing piece, keyed to the predictable issues and needs of the potential client. If your writing samples do not include appellate briefs or arguments, at least select those exemplars that are most "appellate-like:" that include evidence of research, analysis and persuasive communication skills.

Once you're armed with some work product, canvassing the temp firms becomes a systematic self-marketing task. When contacting them, I would emphasize my interest in all forms research and drafting, rather than pigeonholing your interests/capabilities solely in terms of appellate work. They may get more research assignments than appellate assignments.

Once you get a few client engagements under your belt, you can angle harder for appellate assignments and/or include in your portfolio those projects that dealt with broader issues of legal policy and interpretation, rather than narrow factual scenarios ("Find me a case that says that red-headed women can't cross numbered streets on Thursdays").

Your preparation also should include visits to -- and, if possible, nomination and admission to -- the various appellate courts that might be the focus of your appellate work (it sounds from your question, by the way, as if you are more interested in briefing than in oral presentation). You should secure copies of appellants' and appellees' briefs in a variety of courts and reviewing the litigants' approaches to a variety of issues -- commercial, tort, regulatory, tax, securities, etc. -- to get a good sense of the length, style of writing and lingua franca of submissions to each court.

It's also a good idea to see if you can arrange some networking meetings with the appellate judges and justices themselves. See if they will tell you what they look for in effective briefs, how they evaluate and prioritize arguments, what tricks or techniques really turn them off. See if you can get a few referrals or wrangle some introductions to prominent players in the appellate bar. Then go network with them.

You may want to offer your services to them on a behind-the-scenes, primary research or contract basis, with the understanding that the major goal is to gain experience and credibility. Plaintiffs' lawyers in particular are apt to have less time and fewer resources for appellate efforts than large, richly-resourced defense firms.

Finally, assuming you left your prior firm on good terms, what about going back to them and asking for some hourly-rate research and drafting assignments? If your firm has been using temp firms, you might be an attractive alternative because they can eliminate the middle-man's fees and costs

Sincerely,
Douglas B. Richardson
President, The Richardson Group