Appellate Certification

Some state bars have a certification program in appellate law. Others do not. The following discussion covers whether these programs are useful or valuable to appellate lawyers and clients.

Date sent: 25 Aug 97

The California bar, like many state bars, has a certification program in different areas of the law. A few years ago, California added appellate law to the list. (Other areas include bankruptcy, family law, trusts and estates, criminal law, and a few others.)

To be certified, a lawyer must pass a written exam, have 7 oral arguments, and obtain 125 "points". Opening briefs court are 5 points, respondents briefs count are 4 points, writs are 2 points, and various other appellate activities are worth 1 or 2 points.

A lawyer does not need to pass this exam to practice in front of appellate courts. The program simply certifies lawyers as having some level of expertise in appellate law.

Do other states have appellate certifications? If so, what is your experiece with them? How do you become certified? Do client's care? Do referring trial lawyers care?

Date sent: 25 Aug 97

Please forgive me for criticizing the process you just went through. However, I offer my opinionated, provincial and probably uninformed views in the interests of stimulating discussion.

Michigan does not have such a horrid thing state-certified legal specialties. There was a proposal a couple of years ago that involved a qualification process, special CLE and other requirements. Mercifully, it never went very far. As a person with several areas of concentration, I would have had to completely change the way I do business. Unfortunately, unless the exams and qualification procedures are much more finely tuned than law school and bar exams, the certification will have little value in determining the real ability of a lawyer.

State certification of specialties does three things, and only three things. 1) It increases revenue to the bar association. 2) It increases the cost of legal service to consumers. 3) It stifles competition by protecting an entrenched cadre in each area of specialization.

Date sent: 26 Aug 97

Florida instituted appellate certification in 1994. There are qualifying requirements, e.g., approximately 30 appellate cases and a certain number of CLE courses, and passage of an all-day examination after qualification. Certification is valid for five years, during which a significant number of appellate CLE hours must be logged to maintain qualification. Certification entitles holder to use "Board Certified in Appellate Law" on letterhead, etc., and separate listing in the Bar roster.

Date sent: 26 Aug 97

I am interested too. I do a lot of appellate work in New Jersey and would welcome some sort of certification in this State for appellated advocacy.

Date sent: Tue, 26 Aug 97

In Washington, a lawyer may not state or imply that she is a specialist except: (1) to state that she is a patent attorney, or (2) state that she is certified by a group as long as the ad states the name of the group and that Washington does not recognize certification of specialties in the practice of law and a certificate is not a requirement to practice law.

Although the ads in the yellow pages I just flipped throught don't all follow these rules exactly, it is rare to see a statement about certification. Washington's rules are quite controversial, as you might expect.

Date sent: Wed, 27 Aug 97

Missouri's rules are similar to those in Washington. An attorney may not state or imply specialization except in patent law or in an area certified by a recognized group, such as bankruptcy. No appellate specialization is available as far as I know.

Date sent: Tue, 26 Aug 97

I am board certified in civil appellate law in Texas. We have had specialization boards in various areas such as civil trial, personal injury, family, criminal, tax, estate, bankruptcy, etc. for a number of years. Again, it is not required, but in Texas in order to advertise that you specialize in any area you must state whether or not you are board certified. That is under attack right now, and it may change -- people are tired of having to say they are not board certified even thought they may have selected an area of specialization. Here you have to meet certain criteria to be eligible, then you have to take the test and pass. To continue, you must continue to devote a certain percentage of your time to that area and have a certain number of CLE hours. Just recently it has become more well recognized due to certain elections - we elect our judges and many are now advertising or campaigning that they are board certified. Anyway, that is how it is here - I really can't remember all the areas, but we have quite a few specialty areas.

Date sent: Wed, 27 Aug 97

Michigan has minimal appellate certification requirements for those who seek to be appointed criminal appellate counsel. Civil appellate leaders, myself included, here have strongly resisted appellate certification as it is just one more ugly dimension to ubiquitously hideous lawyer advertising. Frankly this is something I would have thought would have come up long ago before the American Academy of Appellaye Lawyers; so far I have not seen the issue discussed. Anyone know more about this?

Date sent: Wed, 27 Aug 97

Those issues came up in Florida prior to the decision to go forward with appellate certification and can occassionally still be heard, but the decision was made to go forward and I don't think that perception has colored the general view of appellate certification as a positive move.

Date sent: 27 Aug 97

Just to add a couple of things to the earlier post about Texas. I have been board certified in civil appellate law here in Texas for several years. Yes, clients care. Yes, referring trial lawyers care. My opinion is that here in Texas, it would be extremely difficult to build and sustain a solo appellate practice without being board certified.

The above discussion was taken from the Appellate Law Discussion list and edited.

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