Appellate Practice

A successful outcome on appeal often requires an approach different from what is necessary to achieve success at the trial level. Our lawyers represent clients in all Arizona appellate courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. The Firm has been instrumental in assisting our clients in making new law, or changing unfavorable law, through the effective use of appellate practice.

Appellate rules and procedures demand special skills, strategy, and experience and our appellate lawyers have the persuasive writing ability, the keen understanding of the law, and the experience necessary to deal with the complicated records and legal issues involved in handling appellate matters of all kinds, civil and criminal. Moreover, our primary appellate lawyer began his career as a law clerk to an Arizona Supreme Court Justice.

We provide a broad scope of appellate services, including work in specialty areas such as insurance bad faith, medical malpractice, professional liability, and bankruptcy. Accordingly, we often assist other lawyers and their clients with post-trial advocacy.

The appellate services we provide include:

• Full Service Appellate Work: We take full responsibility for handling the appeal, including conducting the necessary record review, preparing the briefs, selecting and compiling the key record materials for the appellate courts, and presenting the oral argument.
• Special Actions and Extraordinary Writs: Clients and other lawyers consult with us to determine whether to pursue special actions reviewing an intermediate trial court decision before a final judgment and we often prepare the briefing necessary for these interlocutory appeals.
• Post-Trial Motion Work: The period immediately following a verdict is often the most critical to any subsequent appeal. Certain issues must be raised with the trial court in a post-trial motion to be preserved for appeal, and the post-trial motions often frame the issues for appeal. We can assist lawyers and their clients at this critical stage of the case in preparation for an expected appeal.
• Appeal Evaluation: What makes for a successful appeal is often as likely to be determined by procedural and record issues as the merits of the case. Because of the time and expense involved with an appeal, we consult with other attorneys and clients to help them assess whether to take an appeal, and if so, how best to balance the costs and benefits of involving an appellate litigation team.

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