Appellate Specialization and the Art of Appellate Advocacy

Appellate practice is a specialized area of the law that deals with handling appeals, which are requests to higher courts to review decisions made by lower courts. It is considered a specialty because it requires unique skills and expertise, different from those needed for trial practice. In appellate practice, attorneys focus on legal issues and arguments rather than factual disputes. There is definitely an “art” to appellate advocacy, as it involves crafting persuasive legal arguments and presenting them effectively to the appellate court. Appellate judges think there is a big difference between how lawyers argue their cases in trial and appellate courts. During a trial, lawyers try to convince the jury using emotional arguments and storytelling. But in an appeal, they have to focus on proving that the law supports their client’s case. They can’t use emotional pleas. Making emotional arguments to the judges is a big mistake. Trial lawyers try to persuade the jury that their client is right using evidence and storytelling. But appellate lawyers have to focus on the law and presenting their arguments in a logical way. Appellate lawyers work on cases after they’ve already been decided in lower courts. They focus on the legal arguments and write and speak to judges, not juries. Their job is to persuade the judges to review and potentially change the lower court’s decision. They need to be really good at writing and speaking, and they have to know a lot about the rules and procedures for appeals. Writing a good appeal is hard, and it takes a lot of skill and practice. Judge Nesbitt advises attorneys to keep their appellate briefs simple and easy to understand. He emphasizes the importance of spending time on understanding their own case and outlining the key points they need to convince the judge. The statement of facts in the brief should be strong, but not one-sided or argumentative, and should be skillfully written to be persuasive. The written brief is extremely important because most cases are decided based on the briefs alone, without oral argument. Therefore, having good brief writing skills is critical for presenting a case to the court. Hey there,

I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to share some tips with you about the art of effective oral advocacy in court, specifically in appellate courts.

When arguing a case in front of appellate judges, it’s important to keep things simple and focus on the legal arguments, rather than getting into the nitty-gritty details of the case. You’ll also have limited time, so it’s crucial to get to the core points of your argument quickly.

Another key thing to remember is that appellate judges will ask a lot of questions during the oral argument. It’s your job to use those questions to transition into presenting your position, all while keeping the argument on track.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Good luck with your future cases.

Take care. In today’s legal world, it’s really important for lawyers to be good at writing and arguing their cases. Cases are getting more complicated, and judges don’t have a lot of time to look at everything. So, a lawyer’s ability to pick out the most important parts of the case and argue them well is really important for winning appeals.

There are also a bunch of tricky rules and procedures in the appeals process that can trip up lawyers who aren’t experienced in it. Knowing how to deal with these rules and procedures can be the difference between winning and losing an appeal.

Both trial lawyers and appeal lawyers are really important in the legal process. Trial lawyers focus on finding and presenting the facts, while appeal lawyers focus on using those facts to make good legal arguments. Appellate practice is a specialized area of law that involves writing persuasive briefs and making effective oral arguments in court. Jennifer S. Carroll is a board-certified appellate lawyer who focuses on state and federal civil appeals. Before working in private practice, she was a senior judicial law clerk. This column is submitted on behalf of the Appellate Practice Section. The goal is to promote principles of duty and service to the public, improve the administration of justice, and advance the science of jurisprudence.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/appellate-specialization-and-the-art-of-appellate-advocacy/