California State and Federal appellate litigation attorney

Generally speaking, appellate law is an area of law that focuses on convincing a higher court to overturn a lower court’s decisions through appeals and writs.  It is the process through which you can challenge the ruling or judgment made in a trial court before a panel of judges who review the case based primarily on legal arguments raised by written briefs filed by the challenging party — the appellant, and the party defending the judgment or order — the respondent/appellee.  Lawyers who handle such cases are referred to as appellate lawyers.

Appellate law happens both at the state and federal level as well as in criminal and civil law. The vast majority of systems, including California and the Ninth Circuit, have mid-level appeals courts as well as a high-level supreme court where decisions can be appealed to in a case.

Appellate courts can review procedural and substantive legal errors that either party believes affected the outcome of the case.

Although an appeal is not a re-trial, it involves a substantial amount of legal work. Some of the work appellate lawyers perform include reviewing the entire record of the case in the lower court (including transcripts, motions, testimony, exhibits, etc.), conducting comprehensive legal research, preparing appellate briefs, and in many circumstances, participating in an oral hearing before a panel of appellate judges or justices.