Why hire an appellate attorney?

The attorney who handled the case in the trial court should typically not handle the appeal. The attorney who tried the case will probably not be able to assess it with a detached eye to determine what issues might be viable on appeal. Like the appellate judges, a new attorney will approach the record with a fresh eye and clear judgment.

The attorney that tries the case has a vested interest in the case and in the way they handled it. Even wonderful trial attorneys can overlook an important point which might be obvious to an appellate attorney viewing the case. An appellate attorney will be able to supply a fresh view of the case.

Trial attorneys often cannot devote the necessary time to an appeal. They may be tired or burned-out on the case after spending countless hours on it leading up to the court’s decision. Trial attorneys are typically pulled in many different directions all day long and rarely have the luxury of having large blocks of uninterrupted time to review a record with fresh eyes and think through the best strategy for an appeal.

An experienced appellate advocate should handle your appeal. There are special skills involved in effective appellate advocacy—ones that trial attorneys do not regularly use or hone. There is no substitute for continuing experience in adequately reviewing a record, extracting the issues from that record, writing effective briefs, and making persuasive oral arguments. Nor is there a substitute for working regularly with the standards of review that the appellate court will apply to your case.

Finally, an experienced appellate practitioner will have a better sense of what persuades an appellate court than a trial attorney. The experienced practitioner will know how to draft the statement of the case, what kind of issues will likely interest appellate judges, how to compellingly frame issues so they present legal questions of interest to appellate judges. As surprising as it sounds, facts, which drive trials and trial attorneys, are only of marginal interest to appellate judges. An experienced practitioner has the courage to limit issues to a few, and the willingness to leave weaker issues on the cutting room floor. In short, the experienced appellate advocate has the skills to improve the chances that you will prevail on your appeal.