Judge Calls for Stronger Appellate Advocacy Focus in Law Schools

Sherilyn Pastor speaks with Law.com about the importance of appellate advocacy in legal education and how her own career in appellate litigation took shape. Pastor shares that it wasn’t until after graduation—while clerking for New Jersey’s Appellate Division—that she settled on being an appellate litigator. She recounts spending full days observing appellate arguments as a clerk, learning which lawyers’ actions were worth emulating and which didn’t hit the mark—an experience she found invaluable, especially alongside the chance to observe and get to know the appellate judges.