Organization
D. Todd Smith
Website: texappcounsel.com
D. Todd Smith is a solo appellate lawyer based in Texas who provides appellate advocacy, trial court legal issue handling, and strategic consulting for trial lawyers statewide. His practice focuses on preserving error, managing complex legal issues, and avoiding appellate pitfalls throughout litigation stages. He publishes detailed analyses of appellate procedures, court rule changes, and trial support strategies. His content includes podcasts and articles that explore Texas appellate law, mandamus petitions, trial court reconsideration, and the integration of technology such as AI in legal practice. Smith also discusses procedural developments in Texas courts and offers practical guidance for trial lawyers navigating appeals and related motions.
201 published works
Authors
Texas Appellate Counsel
E175 | What Serving on the Trial Bench Taught an Appellate Judge | Justice Scott Field
"I thought I knew what it was like to be a trial judge. And the truth is, I didn't," says Justice Scott Field of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, back for his…
Texas Appellate Counsel
E174 | Confronting Moral Injury: Winning in Law Without Losing Yourself
"In a lot of respects, the legal system is a moral ordering system," says Jody Sanders—one built on competing interests and an outcomes-based way of measuring success that, he argues,…
Texas Appellate Counsel
E173 | Fee Recovery, Trap Doors, and the Lodestar in the AI Age | Amy Prueger
An attorney-fee award can sometimes dwarf the underlying recovery—yet, as Amy Prueger says, a party's fee request is often an afterthought. Hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders talk with Amy, a litigation attorney at Clark Hill PLC in…
Texas Appellate Counsel
E172 | Grants, GVRs, and Per Curiams: Checking in on the New Petition-for-Review Rules
In this episode, hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders offer a mid-year check-in on the Texas Supreme Court's new petition-for-review rules. Building on Todd's Appellate Advocate article, A New Era…
Texas Appellate Counsel
Six Years, 171 Episodes: The Texas Appellate Law Podcast Catalog Is Now on YouTube
The full Texas Appellate Law Podcast catalog is live on YouTube: 171 full episodes, going back to March 2020. Our first few episodes came together as the world was shutting…
Texas Appellate Counsel
E171 | Suspending the Judgment: What’s New in Texas Supersedeas
"Give yourself time, give yourself options." That refrain runs through this conversation as hosts Jody Sanders and Todd Smith break down what has changed in Texas supersedeas, the procedure for…
Texas Appellate Counsel
E170 | RealityCheck: BriefCatch’s New Front Against Hallucinations and the Older Problems Underneath | Ross Guberman
The real AI risk isn't hallucinations—it's not using AI at all. That's the counterintuitive argument from Ross Guberman, founder and CEO of BriefCatch, who tells hosts Todd Smith and Jody…
Texas Appellate Counsel
Flipping the Script | The Smaller Fixes That Would Add Up
This is the sixth and final post in the Flipping the Script series, drawn from Episode 162 of the Texas Appellate Law Podcast. The series examines what Texas appellate courts…
Texas Appellate Counsel
E169 | Modernizing the Law: Inside the American Law Institute | Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson
Wallace Jefferson, former Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court and newly installed President of the American Law Institute (ALI), joins Jody Sanders and Todd Smith for a wide-ranging conversation…
Texas Appellate Counsel
Flipping the Script | It’s Time for a Statewide Cross-Appeal Rule
This is the fifth post in the Flipping the Script series, drawn from Episode 162 of the Texas Appellate Law Podcast. The series examines what Texas appellate courts could do…