Appellate Advocacy is Seton Hall's upper-level writing course; it provides students with an opportunity to fine-tune the lawyering skills they acquire during their 1L year. Through a combination of readings, class discussions, and written and oral exercises, students will hone their appellate skills by briefing and arguing an assigned case, which culminates in a final oral argument in front of volunteer judges.
Appellate Advocacy is taught by seasoned attorneys who imbue their classroom time with their unique experience with professional legal writing and appellate work. In Appellate Advocacy students learn from professors who currently work or formerly served as judges, prosecutors, appellate specialists, private practitioners, and in-house counsel.
Senior Assistant prosecutor at the Passaic County Prosecutors Office
Professor Barrera is a Senior Assistant prosecutor at the Passaic County Prosecutors Office, where he has held that position since May 2015. Currently, he is assigned to the Fatal Investigations Unit. In this unit, Professor Barrera handles all matters that result in death within the County of Passaic. As part of this unit, Professor Barrera is heavily involved in the investigation of these matters, and ultimately, the prosecution of those individuals charged with the offenses that result from these investigations. Prior to holding this position, Professor Barrera was part of the Trial Unit where he was the Team Leader of Trial Team B, supervising a group of 6 assistant prosecutors. Prior to re-joining the trial unit, he was assigned to the Narcotics, Gangs, and Violent Crimes Task Force. Professor Barrera has handled numerous jury trials, which included homicides, attempted murders, drugs and weapons related offenses. Prior to joining the Passaic office, he spent three years with the Hudson County Prosecutors Office. Before becoming an assistant prosecutor in 2011, he clerked for the Honorable Lourdes I. Santiago of the New Jersey Superior Court-Criminal Division.
Professor Barrera is a graduate of St. John’s University, where he received his B.S. in Sports Management, and Seton Hall University School of Law. As a student at Seton Hall Law, he participated in the Juvenile Justice Clinic and was a member of the Latin American Law Students Association, where he held executive board positions of Co-President and Treasurer. While at St. John’s, he was a recipient of the Phi Eta Sigma Scholarship and was inducted into the college’s honor society.
In addition to his work at the prosecutors office, Professor Barrera also holds an
E-Board position with the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey and is the Co-Chair
of a high school pipeline mentoring program. He has held the position of Co-Chair
for 9 years and has had the privilege of helping young high school students reach
their goals of attending college and then becoming professionals in their chosen careers.
Honorable David F. Bauman, P.J. Ch. (Ret.)
Judge David F. Bauman served in all four divisions of the Superior Court of New Jersey over his 16 years of service on the bench, and was designated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey to serve as Presiding Judge in three divisions: Civil (2009-2015; 2021-2023), Criminal (2016-2021), and General Equity, where Judge Bauman served from July 2023 until his retirement from the bench on September 1, 2024. He presided over many controversial high-profile matters of local and national interest particularly in the areas of commercial law, election law, public contract law, criminal law, and civil rights, including a matter in which he ruled in a published opinion that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance do not violate the equal protection clause of the New Jersey Constitution.
In December 2012, and again in February 2016, Judge Bauman was nominated by Governor Chris Christie for the position of Associate Justice, New Jersey Supreme Court. Neither nomination received a Senate confirmation hearing.
A former member of the Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Education, Judge Bauman proposed and presented reenactments of civil rights trials involving Asian-Americans at the New Jersey Judicial College and the Administrative Office of the Courts. He has been a speaker and presenter at numerous seminars to include the New Jersey Civil Case Law Update, Hot Tips for Civil Litigators, and The Ultimate Baseball Lover’s CLE Seminar: How America’s Favorite Sport Paved The Way For Lasting Legal Change. In October 2015, Judge Bauman received the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Minority Judge’s Award at the 14th Annual Minority Judges’ Reception. His remarks upon receiving the award were published in the New Jersey Law Journal.
Prior to taking the judicial oath in 2008, Judge Bauman was an equity partner at the law firm of Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C. where he worked for 17 years, from 1991 to 2008, as a litigator specializing in complex civil and criminal matters. While at Bressler, Judge Bauman served on the Supreme Court Civil Practice Committee, served on the firm’s Diversity Committee, was named a “Diversity Advocate” by Multicultural Law Magazine, authored an article published by the New Jersey Lawyer Magazine on issues confronting military reservists ordered to involuntary active duty, was named a New Jersey “Super Lawyer,” and was awarded APALA-NJ’s Achievement Award for 2008.
From 1988 to 1991, Judge Bauman served on active duty with the United States Marine Corps as a prosecutor, defense counsel and special counsel, Naval Investigative Service, serving as lead trial lawyer on several high profile matters involving violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He then served in the Marine Corps Reserve as a staff judge advocate, commanding officer, and appellate government counsel, attaining the rank of Major. His service awards include the Navy Commendation Medal, Letter of Commendation, Commandant of the Marine Corps, and Certificate of Commendation, 2d Battalion, 25th Marines.
Judge Bauman is a magna cum laude graduate of Columbia University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and Boston
College Law School.
Director, Corporate Counsel – Employment Law and Investigations – Prudential
Professor Boyan is an attorney in Prudential’s Employment Law Department. He conducts internal investigations into complaints of a wide array of issues, including complaints relating to workplace harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wage and hour disputes. Professor Boyan also provides counseling to human resources and management on compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws.
Prior to joining Prudential, Professor Boyan was a partner in the Labor and Employment Department of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, P.C. He has experience representing clients before state and federal courts, and state administrative agencies. He also handled appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the New Jersey Supreme Court, and the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court. Professor Boyan served as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Katharine S. Hayden, U.S.D.J of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Professor Boyan received a B.A. degree in history from Colgate University, a J.D.
degree from Seton Hall University School of Law, and an L.L.M. degree from New York
University School of Law.
Deputy Solicitor General in the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General
Angela Cai is Deputy Solicitor General in the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General, where she focuses on appellate and constitutional litigation on behalf of the State of New Jersey. She has authored numerous briefs at all levels of state and federal courts, and she frequently presents oral argument in federal courts of appeal and the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Before joining the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General, she was an associate
at Wilkinson Stekloff LLP in New York and at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
in Washington, D.C. She clerked for Judge Michael Chagares of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit and Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New York. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and Princeton
University’s School of Public and International Affairs.
United States Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey
Judge Clark is a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey. He graduated from Seton Hall Law School, where he was the Editor-In-Chief of the Seton Hall Law Review. Judge Clark earned his BBA from the University of Notre Dame.
Following his graduation from Seton Hall Law, Judge Clark was a Clerk for the Honorable John J. Gibbons, Third Circuit. He was an Associate for McCarter and English for two years prior to joining the U.S. Attorney's Office. Judge Clark worked for the U.S. Attorney's Office, AUSA from 1989-2011 and in the Chief Civil Division from 2011-2013.
Judge Clark has been a Professor of Appellate Advocacy at Seton Hall Law for over
20 years.
Trial Attorney in the New Jersey Administrative courts
Professor Donohue graduated from the University of Scranton in 1994, where she majored in History and minored in Biology and Political Science. During law school, she clerked for The Honorable James D. Thomas, a United States Magistrate Judge. It was through that clerkship that Professor Donohue decided to become a trial attorney. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1998 and received the American Academy of Matrimonial Attorneys Award. ]Professor Donohue was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1998, the New York Bar in 2000, and the California Bar in 2003.
Professor Donohue began her career in litigation with McDermott & McGee in Millburn, New Jersey in 1998, where she was responsible for a large insurance defense caseload from initial appearance through verdict. She specialized in handling products liability, construction defect and construction injury cases, but also developed a broad range of experience in disputes involving premises liability, property damage, breach of contract, motor vehicle negligence, wrongful death, public entity liability, employment and insurance coverage disputes. Upon moving to San Francisco, California in 2003, Professor Donohue focused her practice on the defense of companies involved in asbestos litigation in the state and federal courts in California and in the Asbestos MDL in Pennsylvania. She presently works as a trial attorney representing victims of personal injury, as well as clients in special education matters in the New Jersey Administrative courts.
In her spare time, Professor Donohue enjoys spending time with her husband and three
kids and coaching the girls’ varsity basketball team at Our Lady of Sorrows in South
Orange, NJ.
Hon. Jeffrey R. Jablonski, A.J.S.C.
Jeffrey R. Jablonski was appointed to the Bench in 2013, and is currently the Assignment Judge of the Hudson Vicinage sitting in Jersey City. Prior to his appointment as Assignment Judge, he served as the Presiding Judge of Chancery Division. Before that, he served in the Civil Division as the designated Complex Business Litigation Judge for the Hudson Vicinage. A native of Kearny, New Jersey, Judge Jablonski attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He received his law degree, with honors, from Western Michigan University, Thomas M. Cooley Law School. While in law school, he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Cooley Law Review and was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for his legal writing and the Distinguished Student Award by the Cooley Alumni Association. After graduation, he was elected to Scribes, the American Society of Legal Writers on Legal Subjects, and was appointed to the faculty of Seton Hall Law School as a legal writing professor. He currently serves on the Board of Editors for the Legal Writing Institute.
Before his appointment to the bench, he was an experienced trial and appellate litigator with firm of Gillespie, Gillespie & Jablonski and was certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Criminal Trial Attorney.
Judge Jablonski is a member of the Conference of Assignment Judges as well as the Judicial Council. He currently chairs the Judicial Council Labor Relations and Employment Committee and New Jersey Supreme Court Committees on Complementary Dispute resolution and of Civil and Criminal Jury selection.
Judge Jablonski lectures frequently on legal writing and professional and judicial
ethics for the Judiciary, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Hudson County
Bar Association, and the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, among
other organizations. He serves on the faculty of for the New Jersey Judicial College,
the New Judge Orientation Program, and the Civil and General Equity Division Judges’
Retreat.
Lead Appellate Prosecutor for the Somerset County Prosecutor's office
Professor Emily Pirro is the lead Appellate Prosecutor for the Somerset County Prosecutor's office. She graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2013 with a B.A. in Psychology, and graduated from William & Mary Law School in 2016. She is the first lawyer in her family. After graduation, she clerked for the chancery division in Middlesex County. Professor Pirro discovered her passion for appellate practice in the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, where she was an attorney law clerk in their Appellate Unit for a year. She was then a Special Deputy Attorney General/Acting Assistant Prosecutor in the Essex County Prosecutor's office in Newark for four years, working exclusively on criminal appeals. She joined the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office in December 2022 as their lead Appellate Prosecutor. Her cases include multi-defendant, multi-victim homicide appeals, kidnappings, sexual assaults, gun crime, and gang-related violence. Recently, she prevailed in a published Appellate Division case, State v. Martinez-Mejia, a case involving child endangerment and child luring. She also appeared in several cases before the New Jersey Supreme Court, including State v. Paden-Battle and State v. Keogh. She has also worked in domestic violence, juvenile prosecution, and general case screening.
Professor Pirro has also co-authored briefs on behalf of the County Prosecutor's Association
of New Jersey as amicus curiae, before the Supreme Court of New Jersey. She currently
supervises junior appellate prosecutors in Somerset County, oversees the internship
program for the office, and is liaison to the municipal prosecutors in Somerset County.
Member of Litigation Practice Group at Porzio Bromberg & Newman
Tom Reilly is a member of Litigation Practice Group at the law firm of Porzio Bromberg & Newman and concentrates his practice in the areas of employment and labor counseling and litigation, appellate practice, and education law.
Throughout his years of practice, Professor Reilly has provided employment counseling to public and private sector clients alike. In the private sector, Professor Reilly has argued in New Jersey's courts on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, handled complex civil litigation arising under New Jersey's antitrust laws, argued and won cases before New Jersey’s appellate courts, and counseled clients on a variety of complex statutory issues. In the public sector, Professor Reilly has represented clients in a number of high stakes matters, including binding arbitration before the Public Employment Relations Commission, matters before the Office of Administrative Law, and cases heard by the Commissioner of Education. He also has brought his appellate experience to bear, briefing dozens of cases for public sector clients before both the Appellate Division and the New Jersey Supreme Court, including cases concerning complex labor and tax disputes, interpretation of New Jersey's public sector employment statutes, and important matters of public policy.
Prior to beginning his career in private practice, Professor Reilly served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Jaynee LaVecchia, Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, where he gained critical insight into appellate practice and procedure, as well as a prime overview of New Jersey's most important and complex legal issues. Since leaving his clerkship, Professor Reilly has participated in nearly two dozen appeals before New Jersey’s appellate courts, representing both parties and amici curiae. Several of the most prominent cases in which he has participated include: American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey v. County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey, 257 N.J. 87 (2024); State v. Olenowski, 255 N.J. 529 (2023); Mack-Cali Realty Corp. v. State of New Jersey, et al., 250 N.J. 550 (2022); In re Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive Nos. 2020-5 and 2020-6, 246 N.J. 462 (2021); and In re Ridgefield Park Board of Education, 244 N.J. 1, (2020).
Professor Reilly also frequently drafts articles and other commentaries concerning
recent decisions both by the Appellate Division and the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Adjunct Professor, Seton Hall Law School
Professor Roberts spent over a decade practicing law at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where she specialized in securities litigation, complex tort litigation, bankruptcy, and enforcement actions. She worked on all aspects of case preparation, including appeals in the federal courts. While there, she also served in select roles relating to attorney professional development. Before joining the law firm, Professor Roberts clerked for the Honorable Michael B. Mukasey, Southern District of New York, and interned at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Criminal Division.
Professor Roberts earned her B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University and her J.D from Yale Law School, where she was an editor of The Yale Law Journal and where she was published in The Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities. Prior to attending law school, Professor Roberts taught second grade in New York City.
The Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board creates substantive content for and oversees the Appellate Advocacy Program during the fall and spring semesters, for both day and weekend classes. The board also helps facilitate the Eugene Gressman Appellate Moot Court Competition held in the spring. Admission onto the Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board requires an application and interview. The board is composed of 12 to 18 members, including a Student Appellate Advocacy Director, a Student Gressman Director, and a Student Assistant Gressman Director.
As Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board Members, students play a vital role in enhancing the legal education experience of their peers. Tasks include creating challenging legal problems for the Appellate Advocacy or Gressman programs, contributing to the content of records on appeal, and preparing bench memoranda to guide professors and volunteer attorneys in evaluating oral arguments. Students act as teaching assistants for Appellate Advocacy classes, participate in oral argument events, attend board meetings, and serve as bailiffs during the Gressman Competition and final Appellate Advocacy oral arguments. This position requires dedication, organization, and a commitment to fostering excellence in legal education.
Sally Bright
Tyler Callagy
Emmanuel Flitsanov
Billy Grabas
Taylor Green
Madelyn Grumet
Emily Harris
Anna Juliano
Joseph Keller
Thomas Lemons
Zachary Murray
Michael Reilly
Hank Scheffler
Joanna Scotti
Claudia Theagene
The Appellate Advocacy Student Director’s role is integral to the effective management of the program. The Student Director assists the Faculty Director in the smooth execution of the fall and spring Appellate Advocacy curriculum for both weekday and weekend sessions and oversees the administrative needs of the program. The Student Director supervises the Moot Court Board's tasks and ensures timely submission of clear, organized, and accurate records on appeal and bench memoranda. The Student Director also handles communicating with judges, scheduling argument times and locations, and facilitating final oral argument events.
2024-25 Appellate Advocacy Course Policies and Syllabus »
Jessica McGloin
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Casey Morrison
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Lara Pennington
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