Michael Skotnicki

I'm a freelance appellate attorney seeking to help solo practitioners and small firm attorneys with writing complex trial court and appellate briefs. Prior to my fifteen years of private practice (including more than ten years with Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker, LLC, where I formed and Chaired the Appellate Practice Group), I worked for five years as a staff attorney for justices of the Alabama Supreme Court. This experience led me from a planned career in career from environmental law (as a former environmental/geological consultant) to one in appellate practice.

I have written appellate briefs filed in the appellate courts of several states, in five of the eleven U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and in the United States Supreme Court.

I author a blog called Briefly Writing (link below) where I share my thoughts on appellate brief writing and the appellate legal process. I've published a number of legal articles as well as peer-reviewed geological research papers.

I am a member of the Intercollegiate Football Researchers Association and recently penned a book on the history of the Auburn University football program that is titled, "Auburn's Unclaimed National Championships." This photograph was taken on the day the two "Toomer's Corner Oaks," a site for celebration of Auburn sports victories for many decades, were cut down after being poisoned and killed by Harvey Updke, a fan of the University of Alabama who bragged about and was convicted of this crime.