In the past year I have handled 52 briefs. I have only been in this position for one year and was wondering whether 52/yr is low, average, or high. I am the only appellate attorney in our office. Thanks for any input.

I have worked as solo appellate attorney in Taylor County for 3 yrs. In the 3 years I have filed approximately 28-33 briefs each year.

As a lawyer in the appellate section of the Harris County DA's office, back in the late 1980's, it seemed like the average appellate attorney was expected to write about a brief every 2 weeks (noncapital). The appellate chief, who is now a judge on a court of appeals, regularly cranked out a brief a week or more. But he was superhuman.

John Bradley
District Attorney
Williamson County, Texas

A brief a week is very good going. I commend you on your work habit.

In my experience, the quantity and quality of issues presented, the quality of any reply, and even the courts in which you practice dictate the amount of time spent. Some 2 pointers can be dispatched in a day or less, but the same number of points in another brief could take over a week. In general terms, I target for 40 briefs a year per attorney. But capital cases consume a monstrous amount of time and with writs, expunctions, non-disclosures, CLE programs, hearings, and helping on trial issues, while continually striving for the highest quality products, something around 30 briefs a year seems to be the norm.

In an effort to be fairer with assigning briefs (we are 6 appellate atorneys in a criminal district attorney's office) and equalizing workloads I have implemented a value system for briefs. Incoming briefs are scored between 1-5 on reading them through. After our reply brief is filed, I may reevaluate the score. This score combined with the number of points of error and briefs written is used to provide a better idea of workload. Even if this is subjective and only partially helpful, there should be less chance of uneven workloads.

It seems a shame that with the deadlines imposed on cranking out briefs, the appellate courts (at least in Austin) are taking upwards of two years to crank out an opinion. And when is the last time that you've ever seen the efforts and arguments of the appellee (usually the State) acknowledged? It makes me wonder if filing a response brief is really necessary if the appellate court is really doing its own research on whatever question is raised by the appellant. That observation probably reflects a misunderstanding of what an appellate court actually does, but that's how it appears in the trenches.

Several Texas appellate courts have recently acknowledged the State's efforts in filing an accurate brief. See, e.g., Griffin v. State, No. 14-04-00822-CR, 2005 WL 3310049, at *3 (Tex. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 2005, no pet. hist.); Jagaroo v. State, No. 14-04-00640-CR, 2005 WL 3116308, at *6 (Tex. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 2005, pet. filed); State v. Krueger, No. 09-04-013-CR, 2005 WL 2810691, at *1 (Tex. App.--Beaumont 2005, no pet.); Shook v. State, 172 S.W.3d 39, 39 (Tex. App.--Waco 2005, no pet.); Holmes v. State, 135 S.W.3d 178, 195 (Tex. App. --Waco 2004, no pet.); Horner v. State, 129 S.W.3d 210, 220 (Tex. App.--Corpus Christi 2004, pet. ref'd); Toma v. State, 126 S.W.3d 528, 529 (Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 2003, pet. ref'd); Kelly v. State, 122 S.W.3d 227, 240 (Tex. App.--Corpus Christi 2003, no pet.); Chavez v. State, 91 S.W.3d 797, 800 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002); In re State, 85 S.W.3d 871, 874 (Tex. App.--Tyler 2002) (orig. proceeding); and State v. Lofgen, 47 S.W.3d 167, 169 (Tex. App.--Austin 2001, no pet.).

(A certain intermediate appellate court geographically located closest to a state line among all the Texas appellate courts was intentionally omitted from the above list.)

Ten cases since 2001? Not very convincing. As an appellee, if the State got it right in its response, it should be acknowledged (or if it got it wrong).

As long as we get it right in our briefs shouldn't we, as appellate attorneys, be content. Do we really need a pat on the back for performing as expected? Sure it would be great, but our reward comes from the overall result and from the occasions our language and ideas are incorporated in the opinions. Perhaps we need to accept more subtle flattery because any particular case is nearly always not about us. A token of recognition, good or bad, serves only to distract from the real issues and parties. Just a thought!

I agree with John. And I think Andy's list is impressive. Granted the Courts I write for (6th and 12th) issue their opinions quickly; but I want the Courts to get it right. I don't expect them necessarily to acknowledge either my efforts or arguments.

[This message was edited by RBowman on 03-03-06 at .]