Winning an appeal: A step-by-step explanation of how to prepare and present your case efficiently and effectively, with sample briefs (Contemporary legal education series)

This book is meant to give you some ideas which may help you win in an appellate court, whether you represent the appellant or the respondent. These ideas can't guarantee victory - nor can anything you do - because there are too many key factors beyond your control, such as the record on appeal and the attitudes of the judges assigned to your case. But proper application of certain techniques can substantially increase your chance of success, and permit you to do the best job in the least amount of time.

This book is not about the form of an appeal; it is about the substance of an appeal. Examples of many of the brief-writing techniques discussed appear in the sample briefs at the end of this book. Before each brief is an explanation of the strategic thinking that lay behind how each brief was written.

Appellate courts differ from trial courts in several ways that directly affect how a lawyer should handle an appeal.

First, the appellate court has more time: time to read the record and the lawyers' briefs, and even time to do independent research. Second, the appellate court has a much greater interest in properly arriving at and explaining its notion of a 'correct' decision than a trial court judge does. The appellate court will publish many or all of its decisions, which serve as precedent throughout the jurisdiction (and sometimes beyond). these decisions will be read by thousands of lawyers, and the judge wants to be seen by them as an erudite scholar.

These two differences have a major effect on how the lawyer should prepare his case in the appellate court.