Our highest courts should represent all of us.

Too often, appellate courts make high-stakes decisions with little connection to the communities most affected. We’re changing that. By fostering emerging appellate leaders from underrepresented backgrounds, we’re ensuring our courts better reflect the people, values, and realities of our time.

Learn more about the appellate system.

No rulings about us, without us.

No rulings about us, without us.

  • The Washington Post

News &
Voices

Featured
The Quiet Power of Dissent
The Quiet Power of Dissent

TAP Board member Paul Watford, former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, explores how dissenting opinions often carry weight that extends far beyond their immediate legal impact.

How I Got Here: Journeys in Appellate Law
How I Got Here: Journeys in Appellate Law

TAP shares the journeys of five of our mentors whose stories reflect resilience, representation, and the power of mentorship.

The American Bar Association Features TAP Alum Marquan Robertson
The American Bar Association Features TAP Alum Marquan Robertson

TAP alum Marquan Robertson shares his journey as a first-generation lawyer entering appellate practice and how TAP’s Mentorship Program helped him prepare for and succeed in a Fifth Circuit clerkship

in their words

  • TAP does more than connect students with people who have successfully cracked into the field, it gives them the chance to form connections with lawyers who have done so at the highest levels. I know I would not be where I am without the group of people—including the folks at TAP—who took me under their wings. The best thing I can do in return is pay it forward.

    Darryl E. Williams, Jr.
    2020-21 TAP Alum
    Howard University School of Law, Class of 2022

  • “Like many other first-generation lawyers, I didn’t know that appellate work was even a thing when I started law school. So I was lucky to have mentors like (now Judge) Vince Chhabria (while still in law school) and (now Chief Judge) Sri Srinivasan (while at the SG’s office) set me on the right path. But TAP has taken it to a new level to afford such valuable mentorship to a much broader group of aspiring appellate advocates.”

    Pratik Shah
    Head of Supreme Court & Appellate Practice
    Akin

  • As an appellate lawyer and former federal appellate judge, I know how appellate courts shape every facet of American life—and how the lawyers and judges in these rooms still don’t reflect the diversity of the communities most impacted by their decisions. The Appellate Project is changing that by opening doors to emerging leaders who have too often been excluded from these spaces. TAP’s work is critical to ensuring that our highest courts remain both fair and credible in the eyes of the people they serve.

    Judge Paul Watford
    Partner, King & Spalding LLP
    TAP Board Member