It’s starting to look like I’ve got some appellate work coming up. In a way, that’s good news, at least for me — I enjoy that sort of thing and the opportunity to engage in that sort of practice is quite rare for me. Appeals are research-heavy, writing-heavy, sink-your-teeth-into-the-law sorts of jobs. To do it right, you have to really immerse yourself in a subject, become an expert in both the academic and practical dimensions of the law at issue. I like deep, detailed work; I like the writing; I like acquiring the expertise.
But it’s really bad news; I shouldn’t have to do it in the first place since I’ll be trying to get the appellate court to correct a colossal error that I’m growing afraid that a trial court is about to make. And because of the nature of the work, it consumes a bunch of resources (mainly time) that could be spent working on other cases and for other clients, and in this case, the appeal would not generate very much money for my firm, at least not in the short run. I’d much rather the trial court made the right call and I would have to forego the appeal.
