Why the Legal AI Revolution is Actually a Good Thing for Appellate Law ft. David Coale
Between the Briefs · 2026-04-03 · 41 min
Episode notes
What if the legal AI revolution is actually a good thing? In this episode of Between the Briefs by Steno, Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens welcome David Coale, partner and leader of the appellate practice at Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegman, to unpack how said revolution is transforming appellate law without replacing human judgment. What You’ll Learn: How to structure an appellate practice that balances deep legal writing with real-time courtroom advisory work Why generative AI excels at document digestion, trial transcript summarization and sophisticated legal research How to draft appellate briefs by writing the argument section first using legal principles, then backfilling facts Why young attorneys need intensive reps in writing, research and oral advocacy to develop mastery How a single presidential term of judicial appointments can shape a circuit's jurisprudence for 30+ years Why the human element of judgement, preparation and understanding remain relevant in appellate advocacy Tune in for the full deep dive on navigating appellate law in the age of AI.