D. Todd Smith

D. Todd Smith

D. Todd Smith has devoted his two-decade legal career to civil appellate practice. Serving as an intern to a federal circuit judge and as law review editor-in-chief sparked his interest in appellate work, and two years as a Texas Supreme Court briefing attorney solidified it. From there, Todd moved on to Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., where he learned from some of the finest appellate lawyers in Texas. In 2006, he started a boutique firm—now known as Smith Haley Nobles—focusing on handling appeals and providing litigation support to trial lawyers and their clients statewide.

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An Evening with the Supreme Court of Texas

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Announcements, Appellate Practice, Texas Supreme Court
The Appellate Sections of the Austin Bar Association and the State Bar of Texas are once again co-sponsoring “An Evening with the Supreme Court of Texas.” This event—which has been held biennially since 2008—will take place on Thursday, March 1, 2018, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel here in … Continue Reading

New Year, New Name

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Announcements
In this inaugural post for 2018, I’d like to announce a significant change in my firm. As of January 1, 2018, Smith Law Group has become Smith Haley Nobles. I started this firm in 2006 as a sole proprietorship. Solo life was great, if somewhat solitary. I enjoyed enough success the first couple of years that … Continue Reading

Talking Legal Tech on New Solo

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Technology
Anyone familiar with me as a lawyer knows I have a penchant for legal technology. It’s a regular topic of discussion around here, particularly as it relates to modern-day appellate practice. I’m always looking for ways to implement legal tech and related tools to make things run more smoothly and efficiently in my firm and … Continue Reading

Marking Milestones

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Announcements
Eleven years ago today, I started the practice that became Smith Law Group LLLP. One year later, on the first anniversary of what was then a solo shop, I posted these words: One year ago today, I departed big firm life to start my own appellate boutique—if you can call one lawyer a boutique! The … Continue Reading

How Dependent on Instant Online Data Access Are We?

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Supreme Court Orders, Technology, Texas Supreme Court
Try accessing any number of court-related websites right now, and you may be diverted to the following landing page: A Tuesday evening power outage took down Office of Court Administration servers, and OCA has had difficulty bringing them back up. Meanwhile, scores of lawyers across the state went into panic as they were unable to instantly … Continue Reading

Demystifying Appellate Law on The Law Entrepreneur

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Technology
Solo and small firm lawyers, if you’re into podcasts and haven’t checked out The Law Entrepreneur, you should. Maryland lawyer Neil Tyra has put together 69 episodes (so far) of great conversation with lawyers, tech consultants, and other professionals offering insight into the entrepreneurial side of modern-day law practice. The main reason I know exactly how … Continue Reading

Bench Bar Beyond: The Future is Now

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice
The Austin Bar Association is accepting registrations for Bench Bar Beyond, its annual conference with the local judiciary. As the name and artwork suggest, the theme this year is futuristic; attendees are invited to explore topics and current trends in the legal profession that will impact our future as lawyers. I’m slated to moderate two … Continue Reading

Election 2016: Some New Faces on Texas Appellate Courts

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Courts of Appeals, Texas Supreme Court
As in recent cycles, Republican incumbents and open-seat candidates for Texas appellate benches generally fared well in the 2016 general election. South Texas was the notable exception. The election will not change the Texas Supreme Court’s composition—at least not directly—as incumbent Justices Paul Green, Eva Guzman, and Debra Lehrmann all retained their seats. Donald Trump’s … Continue Reading

How I’m Using My iPad Pro for Appellate Arguments

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Oral Argument, Technology
I just completed my second Fifth Circuit argument using my big iPad Pro in a more prominent role than ever before. Inspired by Jeff Richardson’s post about how he used an iPad to prepare for and present an appellate argument, I thought I’d share how I’ve integrated the device into my preparation and presentation strategy. Documents … Continue Reading

Confessions of a Litigation-Support Lawyer

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Litigation Support
I have a confession to make: I’m doing a lot of litigation-support work these days. And I like it. In one context, the phrase “litigation support”—like “contract lawyer“—can have an almost-negative connotation. It might imply document review, presentation assistance, or other services that are not high revenue generators or don’t require a law license at all. The phrase has … Continue Reading

Using the Evaluative Approach in Appellate Mediation

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Mediation/ADR
Last week, I spoke to the Austin Bar Association ADR Section about mediating cases on appeal. In my talk, I explored the differences in perspective between pre-trial mediation, in which most everything is in flux, and post-trial or appellate mediation, where a party has usually won or lost and the variables have shifted toward certainty. … Continue Reading

Soaking Up Some CLE

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Jury Charges
I spoke today at TexasBarCLE’s Soaking Up Some CLE Program on South Padre Island—one of my favorite places to visit. My topic was “Jury Charges in Commercial Cases.” For anyone interested, my slidedeck appears here. Today was the first time I’ve presented on this particular topic. As always, I learned a lot getting ready for … Continue Reading

An Appellate Lawyer Walks Into a Bar…

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Announcements
No, the headline isn’t a lead-in for an appellate lawyer joke. In all seriousness, I’m announcing my nomination to run for treasurer of the Austin Bar Association. This race will be contested, as one other candidate was also nominated to appear on the ballot. Election as treasurer would put me on a path to becoming Austin … Continue Reading

The Value of Second Opinions

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Litigation Support
Recently, Patrick Lamb of In Search of Perfect Client Service asked how often in-house counsel seek a second opinion about strategy. (Rarely, it seems.) Drawing on medical statistics, he noted that 50% of Americans do not get second opinions for important medical diagnoses, but among those who do, the second opinion leads to changes in the … Continue Reading

Practicing Bathtub Law

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Oral Argument
It may sound strange, but I practice bathtub law. I don’t present myself as an expert in any substantive legal topic. To the contrary, as I wrote here several years ago: Appellate lawyers are perhaps the last of the generalists.  Although appellate practice has gained notoriety as a specialty, it focuses less on the substantive law than on the lawyer’s … Continue Reading

We’re All Contract Appellate Lawyers

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Litigation Support, Third Court of Appeals, Thirteenth Court of Appeals
Every so often, I hear about someone looking for a “contract appellate lawyer” to help with a particular case. Most of these inquiries are from other attorneys, but they sometimes come directly from the person in need of legal services. A contract is fundamental to the relationships that provide business to appellate lawyers. In that sense, … Continue Reading

Continuing to Evolve

D. Todd Smith Posted by D. Todd Smith on Posted in Announcements, Blogs & Blogging, Technology
Readers may have noticed some changes around here. Allow me to tie them together with a brief explanation. New Design More and more users are accessing the internet through smartphones or tablets—a trend that is sure to continue. My friends at LexBlog have thus rebuilt the site to be mobile-friendly. I am very pleased with the simple … Continue Reading
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