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The record provides the raw material of an appeal; it is the closed universe in which appellate practitioners work. The Texas courts of appeal, after all, do not consider matters outside the record on appeal.[1] That’s old hat. The record is important, critically so. And, so, we are all well-acquainted with the appellate record’s preparation. The clerk and reporter—by rule and request—assemble the papers and transcripts, combine them, file them, number them, and so on.[2] Their contents turn on rule and the parties’ designations.[3] You know all that. But what about supplementing the record, say, with relevant but missing materials, after an appeal has progressed from its early administrative stages and into the merits? Can a party do that in Texas appellate courts?

by Nicholas Bruno The Texas Rules of Civil Procedure allow the appointment of a “master in chancery” “in exceptional cases” and “for good cause.” Tex. R. Civ. P. 171. Such appointments may be by agreement. But oftentimes that appointment may be contested—and appellate...

by JoAnn Storey, JoAnn Storey, P.C. It is improper for the trial court to conduct a conflicts-of-law analysis regarding the application of Chapter 33’s provisions governing proportionate responsibility in a tort case. See Smith v. Cudd Pressure Control Inc., 126...

The record provides the raw material of an appeal; it is the closed universe in which appellate practitioners work. The Texas courts of appeal, after all, do not consider matters outside the record on appeal.[1] That’s old hat. The record is important, critically so. And, so, we are all well-acquainted with the appellate record’s preparation. The clerk and reporter—by rule and request—assemble the papers and transcripts, combine them, file them, number them, and so on.[2] Their contents turn on rule and the parties’ designations.[3] You know all that. But what about supplementing the record, say, with relevant but missing materials, after an appeal has progressed from its early administrative stages and into the merits? Can a party do that in Texas appellate courts?

by Nicholas Bruno Litigators are well aware of the “general rule” that only final judgments are appealable. While not a true “appeal,” the availability of review of an (often interlocutory) order at an appellate court through mandamus is often an exception to that...