Craig, Terrill, Hale, & Grantham, L.L.P

The Clerk of the Texas Supreme Court, Blake A Hawthorne, and a noted appellate practitioner, Don Cruse, recently discussed the future of appellate briefs during a presentation given to practitioners who attended the University of Texas School of Law’s 20th Annual Conference on State and Federal Appeals. See Don Cruse & Blake A. Hawtorne, Appellate Briefs of the Future, 20th Annual Conference on State and Federal Appeals (Univ. of Tex. School of Law 2010), available at http://www.scotxblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Appellate-Briefs-of-the-Future-final.pdf. (last visited on 6/28/10). Cited as an example of briefs which “pushed the limits of … new technologies to give their clients an edge” was the brief that Gary Bellair authored in Timpte Industries v. Gish. http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/ebriefs/08/08004303.pdf.

Cruse and Hawthorne cited Bellair’s Timpte brief as being noteworthy because the supreme court took less time than usual to rendered its opinion; issuing an opinion less than three months after hearing oral argument. Cruise and Hawthorne opined that Bellair’s use of color photographs of the grain-hopper trailer was a factor which facilitated the Court’s prompt and favorable decision. See Timpte Industries, Inc. v. Gish, 286 S.W.3d 306 (Tex. 2009) (reversing and rendering a judgment favoring Timpte).