Appellate Lawyers - The Last Generalists

At cocktail parties, I frequently get asked what appellate lawyers do. I typically answer that sort of question in procedural terms, explaining how we help make sure that the law is properly presented to the jury, that the judgment conforms to the law and the evidence, and that any legal errors committed by the trial judge are corrected on appeal. But I am sometimes tempted to answer by describing the broad substantive range of appellate practice.

Appellate lawyers stick their collective noses into everything. A Google News search on the word "appeal" produced the following, all occurring within 24 hours of the writing of this post:

• "Immigration board hears deportation appeal from former Nazi guard"