A Letter from TAP's Founder to our community
As you may have heard, I have made the decision to step down as CEO of The Appellate Project. Seeing TAP find the right home to carry its mission forward makes this moment feel less like an ending and more of what it really is: the start of TAP’s next great chapter.
Healthy organizations outlast their founders. Knowing when to step aside is part of the job, and after seven incredible years, I believe now is that time.
And what a seven years it has been.
I started TAP because I felt firsthand—both as an individual and as a lawyer—how much it matters to have a judicial system that includes people who share your background, and how much is lost when it does not. Yet the appellate system—where a handful of lawyers and judges shape rulings that touch every aspect of our lives—has always remained largely closed to the very communities their rulings affect most. Robust debate thrives on diverse perspectives. Without that, we fail to develop the strongest rulings. We lose the public’s trust.
TAP was never about diversity for diversity’s sake. It is about what it means to have a voice. It is about equal justice under law being real for all of us.
What began as an idea has become a movement I could not have fully imagined: thousands of volunteers from across the legal profession and beyond, alumni across the country who are “firsts” in their appellate clerkships and jobs; 100+ law schools represented, “mini-TAPs” taking root, and a real shift in how the appellate bar and bench talk about who belongs in these spaces—and why it matters.
A few weeks ago, I sat with a room full of TAP alumni as we visited the Supreme Court. Years ago, I used to read Justice Sotomayor’s memoir on the train to and from law school. On the days I felt most lost—and as a first-generation law student and lawyer, there were many—her story gave me hope that there was a place for people like me in this profession. To watch our alums in that room, knowing that two of them will be clerking at the Court next term and that hundreds of others have had their careers and lives changed by TAP, was a full-circle moment I will carry with me always. That room was a clear reminder of why TAP matters and why I started this project in the first place.
None of this happened alone. To every volunteer who mentored a student, made a donation, offered pro bono help, opened a door, or gave me encouragement to keep going when I needed it most—thank you. To our staff, our Board, our committee members, our sponsors and donors, and to the judges, lawyers, students, and alumni across the country who made this vision real, I am more grateful than I can say. It truly takes a village, and this one is extraordinary.
If there is one thing I have learned over these past seven years, it’s this: when you stand in your values, people will join you. You do not need the perfect background or the right connections to make change. I am proof of that. So if you are someone who wonders whether the work is worth it, keep going. You will be amazed by the lives you can transform.
We have begun the search for TAP's next Executive Director. Details are available here. I hope you will help us find the right person to lead this community into its exciting new chapter.
As for me, I look forward to a moment of pause and reflection before beginning my own next chapter. And I will be cheering on TAP every step of the way.
With immense gratitude,
Juvaria
