So I'm looking to supplement my library with a treatise, manual, or the like that would be particularly helpful to appellate prosecution. Our office just started the fiscal year and there is currently money in the budget for some books. Since the next TDCAA appellate manual isn't due until 2016. I've been told that Brian Garner's book on brief writing is good.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

2 non-appellate-specific books I use frequently:

- Garner's Modern American Usage, by Bryan A. Garner.

- The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States, 2nd ed., Kermit L. Hall, editor (encyclopedic, needs updating, but great for background and subject matter overview; order good used copies from ebay or 1/2 Price Books).


2 appellate-specific books:

- Capital Writs, by Roe Wilson (TDCAA)

- Post-Conviction Writs (forthcoming TDCAA book)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: APorter,

Garner's stuff never appealed to me.

This stuff from Dubose seems far more interesting.
http://www.texasbarcle.com/Mat.../10949/140308_01.pdf
http://sites.utexas.edu/legalw...-for-screen-readers/

I look at Dix & Schmolesky's stuff in Texas Practice pretty regularly -- but you probably get that in your westlaw account.

If you ever do any civil stuff O'Connor has some books that can quickly get you going in the right direction.

The Texas Rules of Evidence Handbook can occasionally be very helpful.

Speaking of Westlaw, I've started using the westlaw solutions plugin for Word and I'm pretty happy with it. The table of authorities builder works pretty well as does the feature to hyperlink cases cited in the brief.

APorter, I didnt realize TDCAA had a writ book forthcoming. Do you have an idea of when that might appear? I'll definitely have to pick it up.

Andrea Jacobs from Tarrant County is writing the writs book right now, and our hope is to have it ready to share with prosecutor offices sometime in the next year.

I have also found the Robert O. Dawson Conference on Criminal Appeals hosted by the University of Texas School of Law to be informative. It is presented every other year and the next presentation will be May 27 to May 29 of this year. They are not yet taking registration but you can go to the school's conferences website and join, then they will send you a brochure when they are ready for registration.

Any update on the forthcoming writs manual or the new version of the TDCAA appellate manual? I don't want to pester so I waited over a year since the last response.

edit: to ask about both forthcoming books.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Prezas,

By the way, GaryB, thank you for the suggestion. I went to the Dawson Conference and found it very helpful.

Yes! The writs manual is in the home stretch. We hope to have it back from the printer by mid-March, and we will mail one free copy out to every prosecutor office, thanks to grant funding from the Court of Criminal Appeals. No firm plan yet on an updated appellate manual, but we will keep our fingers crossed for available grant funds in the following fiscal year (9/16-8/17). Thanks for your interest!