“Great appellate lawyers can come from all different backgrounds and the law benefits from great lawyers on both sides of any argument.”

“Maintain your integrity and cultivate meaningful relationships because you never know who may be going to bat for you.”

“Consider opportunities in government service, either at the outset of your career or later down the line.”

“Mentor all law students who have the ability and interest in appellate practice.”

“Build a community around you that you can lean on throughout this journey, because the legal profession (while it has made some strides) is still overwhelmingly failing to create inclusive and sustainable pathways for people from diverse backgrounds.”

“We have to be in the room where decisions that impact us are occurring. There are many tables and there is room at those tables for more of us. I can’t sit at all of the tables, but together we can cover more than I ever could alone.”

“There is no substitute for strong writing skills. Take a legal writing course while you have the chance and read the legal writing of the nation’s best appellate advocates.”

“Ask a person you admire to coffee, go to office hours of a professor you have not met before, or take on an opportunity even if you feel incapable or are experiencing imposter syndrome (which we all do from time to time).”

“Demystifying the process and providing greater individual support could go a long way to diversifying the pool of law clerks, which is a key to diversifying both the appellate bar and the judiciary.”

“Law is a dynamic field: there are so many ways in which trial legal strategy tie into subsequent appeals, so I was never far from thinking about appellate issues.”

“I think it’s important to support affinity groups, to elevate underrepresented people to positions of power, and to generally make space for the voices that can sometimes be the most silenced. “

TAP alumni came together in the Bay Area for an exclusive visit to the Supreme Court of California.

“Appellate practice is about shaping a persuasive narrative using facts and the law. Being authentically you is the first step to storytelling that is the cornerstone of appellate practice.”

Alison Knezevich profiles Juvaria Khan on Law360.

Listen to Juvaria Khan, founder of The Appellate Project, on Legal Talk Network’s SideBar Podcast.

“Appellate courts and the appellate bar should broaden their efforts to recruit interns and law clerks, including by recognizing that grades do not always correlate to research and writing ability.”

“For the path to leadership to be visibly open to talented and qualified people of all backgrounds, the appellate bench and bar has to reflect our country’s rich diversity.”

In The Teen Magazine, TAP Program Associate Jeorjet Reyes discusses her work supporting law students of color through TAP’s mentorship, clerkship, and community-building programs.

“There are times when we, as individuals, are our own rate limiting factor because we think we need more training, more experience, more credentials, more something. While that is sometimes true, it is also often true that we doubt ourselves because we listen to a voice in our head that questions whether we are good enough.”

“Appellate fellowships commonly offer the opportunity to argue cases in state and/or federal court sometimes just a year or two removed from law school.”