Texas Appellate Law Podcast

Todd Smith & Jody Sanders
  • 5.0 (49)
  • MANAGEMENT
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Welcome to the Texas Appellate Law Podcast—your backstage pass to the Texas and federal appellate systems. Join your hosts, Texas appellate lawyers Todd Smith and Jody Sanders, as they explore the nuances of appellate advocacy with judges, court staff, leading trial and appellate practitioners, academics, and legal innovators. Whether you're immersed in an appeal or building your trial strategy, each episode delivers practical insights to help you enhance your advocacy skills, strengthen your arguments, and stay current with evolving legal trends. Connect with us at texapplawpod.com or on LinkedIn and X (@texapplawpod). Brought to you by Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC, a solo practice dedicated to appellate advocacy, trial support, and consulting for trial lawyers. For more information visit texappcounsel.com. Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed (formerly Counsel Press.) Produced and powered by LawPods, podcast marketing that converts prospects and drives revenue. The views expressed by the participants on this podcast are their own and not those of their law firms, courts, or employers. Nothing you hear on this show establishes an attorney-client relationship or is legal advice.

  1. APR 30

    Election Litigation in Texas: A Niche Practice with Sharp Edges | Elizabeth Alvarez

    Election law in Texas is “very demanding” and “stressful because of the accelerated nature of the calendar,” says Elizabeth D. Alvarez. Elizabeth is head of civil litigation/election litigation at Guest & Gray and a 12-year election litigation practitioner who has represented state parties, national parties, and candidates on both sides of the aisle. She tells hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders that roughly 90% of Texas election litigation flows from the statutory writ of mandamus and injunction under Chapter 273 of the Election Code, and that fewer than 30 lawyers in the state have litigated a writ more than three times. She also tackles election integrity, calling voting machines "safer than paper." Tune in for her war story about winning an election contest that was so strange she felt like she was living in a John Grisham novel. Connect and Learn More ☑️ Elizabeth D. Alvarez ☑️ Guest & Gray | Facebook | LinkedIn | Justicia | Instagram ☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram ☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC ☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn ☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube Produced and Powered by LawPods Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.

    59 min

  2. APR 23

    Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: Judicial Accountability and the Future of the Central Docket | Judge Amy Clark Meachum

    Judge Amy Clark Meachum, the Local Administrative Judge for Travis County, joins hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders to unpack recent legislation affecting the Texas judiciary and what it means for how courts operate today. Judge Meachum traces the escalating reporting and accountability mandates imposed on Texas trial courts through the 88th and 89th Legislatures; explains the central docket fight and how the Supreme Court's latest rule amendments will affect the Travis County system; and breaks down the new summary judgment rule’s impact on the courts. The pressure to perform on paper is real, she says—judges are managing their dockets with one eye on clearance rates and the other on the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. "No one's checking your substance. They're just checking your numbers. And that's why I call it lies, damn lies, and statistics." Her advice for practitioners: file your summary judgment motion only when it's ready and will be worth the judge’s time. Connect and Learn More ☑️ Judge Amy Clark Meachum | LinkedIn ☑️ 201st Civil District Court ☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram ☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC ☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn ☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube Produced and Powered by LawPods Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.

    56 min

  3. MAR 31

    AI in the Judiciary: Power, Limits, and the Social Contract | Judge Scott Schlegel

    When a lawyer messes up by using an AI platform that produces mistakes, they might get sanctioned by a judge. When a judge messes up using an AI platform, “it could become precedent. So, it’s a much different conversation.” Judge Scott Schlegel, of Louisiana's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, speaks from his experience as an early leader in courtroom efficiency. Today, he supports a measured judicial approach to AI with this guiding principle: “It's not our job to be first. It's our job to get it right.” Tune in to this conversation with hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders to hear about his newer project: the Judicial AI Consortium (JAIC), which he is developing with U.S. Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell of Colorado and Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the Western District of Texas. The consortium is designed to be a simple forum where judges can “ask stupid questions, talk to each other about how you're using it, what you're seeing out there. Is it helpful? Is it useful? How far should we go?” About 200 judges around the country have signed up so far. Connect and Learn More ☑️ Judge Scott Schlegel | LinkedIn ☑️ United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube ☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram ☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC ☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn ☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube Produced and Powered by LawPods Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.

    54 min

  4. MAR 12

    The New Rule 166a: What Texas Lawyers Need to Know | Michael Duncan

    The final version of rewritten Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 166a—the summary judgment rule—became effective March 1, 2026. In this episode, Michael Duncan, an appellate and motions practitioner in Austin who clerked for a Texas Supreme Court justice, unpacks the updated rule with hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders. Together, they examine what the Supreme Court changed for the better from the proposed amendment—clarifying the burden of proof for traditional motions, allowing parties to extend response deadlines by agreement, and explicitly requiring evidence with a traditional motion. They also flag new and unresolved concerns, such as the removal of "promptly" from the court's hearing-setting obligation and the potential for abuse of the filing-triggered response deadline. Michael also shares his comparison chart that untangles the four sets of standards governing motions filed during the transition period. Connect and Learn More ☑️ Michael Duncan | LinkedIn ☑️ Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee on LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook ☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram ☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC ☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn ☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube Produced and Powered by LawPods Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed.

    55 min

  5. FEB 26

    Flipping the Script: How Texas Courts Can Improve Appellate Practice

    In this episode, hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders share their list of crowdsourced “pet issues” that appellate courts could address to make practitioners' lives easier. Their goals, Todd explains, are to both identify areas for improvement and also to give them an opportunity to flesh out those topics in later episodes. If you’re a practitioner with thoughts about everything from modernizing the outdated civil docketing statement to standardizing sealed record procedures to adding a cross-appeal rule, chances are that Todd and Jody have thoughts, too. Tune in as they break down issues and suggest possible solutions. “If any judges, rules committee people, anybody ever wants to come on and talk about these, please let us know,” Jody says. “We would love to have other perspectives on it.” Connect and Learn More ☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram ☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC ☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn ☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube Produced and Powered by LawPods Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed (formerly Counsel Press).

    54 min

  6. FEB 12

    Permissive Appeals, SCAC, and the Reality of Texas Rulemaking | Rich Phillips

    In this episode, we examine Texas’s permissive appeals statute and the rulemaking process that shapes how it operates in practice. To guide the discussion, hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders welcome Rich Phillips of Holland & Knight, who serves on the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee and recently presented a paper on permissive appeals. Rich pulls back the curtain on how procedural rules are developed and revised, then walks through the statute’s requirements and explains why permissive appeals are so often denied. The conversation also explores how courts interpret key statutory terms, how courts of appeals exercise their discretion, and what practitioners can learn from recent decisions in permissive appeals. Connect and Learn More ☑️ Rich Phillips | LinkedIn ☑️ Holland & Knight on LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube ☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X ☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram ☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC ☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn ☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube Produced and Powered by LawPods Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Counsel Press

    55 min

  7. JAN 22

    A Complete Rewrite: What the New Summary Judgment Rule Means for Trial Lawyers and Judges

    The Texas Supreme Court is taking comments on its rewritten summary judgment Rule 166a before the rule goes into effect on March 1. To help practitioners understand its implications, hosts Jody Sanders and Todd Smith provide context for the rewrite and take a deep dive into the rule’s requirements. Tune in as they break down, among other details, how the rule defines traditional and no-evidence summary judgments, what it requires when those motions are combined, and how it changes the timing of the non-movant’s response to within 21 days after the motion is filed. As Jody explains, the Court concluded that summary judgment motions “were either sitting around too long without being heard or without being ruled upon” and set out to address that problem. Todd adds, “This is a huge change from the old rule” that will “require non-movants to be far more proactive in getting their responses done and ready than they were before.” Email your comments about Rule 166a to rulescomments@txcourts.gov by February 28. Connect and Learn More ☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X | Bluesky ☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X | Bluesky ☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram | Bluesky ☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC ☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn ☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube Produced and Powered by LawPods Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Counsel Press

    56 min

  8. JAN 8

    The View from the Bench: Improving Appeals, Briefs, and Oral Argument | Justice David Gunn

    Keep your brief to 10,000 words, and you'll get more investment from Texas appellate justices. Those are just a few words of wisdom from Justice David Gunn in this conversation with hosts Todd Smith and Jody Sanders. After a clerkship, where he observed lawyers making mistakes and judges making decisions, Justice Gunn spent over three decades in private practice before joining the First Court of Appeals in October 2024. Tune in as he reflects on his “accidental” path to law, explains how his court decides when cases get argued, and describes his wish for a “fast track” system for some cases. Make sure to stay for his war story about a lawyer who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Connect and Learn More ☑️ Justice David Gunn | LinkedIn ☑️ Texas Courts of Appeals ☑️ Todd Smith | LinkedIn | X | Bluesky ☑️ Jody Sanders | LinkedIn | X | Bluesky ☑️ Texas Appellate Law Podcast on LinkedIn | X | Instagram | Bluesky ☑️ Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC ☑️ Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP | LinkedIn ☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music Produced and Powered by LawPods Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Counsel Press

    53 min
See All (174)

5
out of 5
49 Ratings

About

Welcome to the Texas Appellate Law Podcast—your backstage pass to the Texas and federal appellate systems. Join your hosts, Texas appellate lawyers Todd Smith and Jody Sanders, as they explore the nuances of appellate advocacy with judges, court staff, leading trial and appellate practitioners, academics, and legal innovators. Whether you're immersed in an appeal or building your trial strategy, each episode delivers practical insights to help you enhance your advocacy skills, strengthen your arguments, and stay current with evolving legal trends. Connect with us at texapplawpod.com or on LinkedIn and X (@texapplawpod). Brought to you by Texas Appellate Counsel PLLC, a solo practice dedicated to appellate advocacy, trial support, and consulting for trial lawyers. For more information visit texappcounsel.com. Sponsored by Court Surety Bond Agency and Proceed (formerly Counsel Press.) Produced and powered by LawPods, podcast marketing that converts prospects and drives revenue. The views expressed by the participants on this podcast are their own and not those of their law firms, courts, or employers. Nothing you hear on this show establishes an attorney-client relationship or is legal advice.

Information

  • Creator
    Todd Smith & Jody Sanders
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    174
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Todd Smith & Jody Sanders
  • Show Website
    Texas Appellate Law Podcast

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