The Practitioner in the Arena

"        It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt, from the speech “Citizenship In a Republic,” delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

        This post is dedicated to all the practitioners who daily strive on behalf of their clients for mastery in an ever-shifting field.

       For these, and for anyone else who may benefit from it, I announce the publication of the Nashville Bar Association’s 14th Edition of Appellate Advocacy: A Handbook on Appellate Practice in Tennessee. Its pages contain the collected wisdom and skills of many of the above-mentioned practitioners in the arena, men and women whose devotion has shaped the law through appeal and dismissal, affirmation and remand, shredding, sleeplessness, sweat, and cortisol.   

You can access Appellate Advocacy here. My fellow editors and I hope you find utility and encouragement therein.