Appellate Lawyers in Media, PA

Civil Appellate

When the ruling of a trial is handed down, sometimes the outcome is not what we’d hope for, and the legal system seems as though it’s failed us. Luckily, there are circumstances in which the appellate court system can provide a path for pursuing the ruling you seek.

Help for the Appellant

The person who seeks to have a decision reversed is called the appellant. If you are considering filing an appeal, bear in mind some key differences between the original court your case was tried in and appellate court. Unlike a trial case, appellate cases are not brought before a jury. Instead, an appellate court judge or panel of judges or administrators rules on whether to grant an appeal.

Winning an appeal does not reverse the verdict of a case but may enable you to have the case retried on the grounds that the verdict was not arrived at according to the “letter of the law.” If a legal mistake was made during the trial, you may be granted a second chance to go through trial after that mistake has been corrected.

Appeals court is a forum for examining whether proper legal procedure was followed during a trial. It is not a place to introduce new evidence, approaches, or arguments for your case. The court reviews everything that was done at trial the first time around, even if new evidence has since arisen that would have influenced the outcome of the original case.

A Detailed Dive

Whether you seek to have a trial decision affirmed as correct the first time around, or remanded for a new trial, the stakes in appellate cases are high. Since the goal is to look for legal errors in the case being appealed, all arguments in that appeal must be supported through citation of a trial court record.

Lawyers who handle appeals must review all original trial transcripts and evidence presented in the original trial. They must also write appellate briefs and prepare oral arguments, conducting detailed research to support both. In every aspect, conducting an appellate case is time consuming and complicated.

Help for the Appellee

In addition to helping appellants explore the potential appeal of a court ruling they’ve lost; appellate lawyers can provide assistance to appellees. These are people who’ve had a ruling in their favor that they worry may be challenged by an appellant.

No matter which side of the isle you’re on, if you need help digging into the legal precedents your trial case was based on, an appellate lawyer can help.

All the Benefits of Specialization Without the Overhead

Many trial lawyers take advantage of the instrumental counsel appellate lawyers bring to a case from the very beginning of a case, not just afterwards on appeal. Appellate lawyers can provide key assistance and a new perspective in preparing for and during the trial process, in addition to building a valuable record of information that can be used afterward in the event an appeal is necessary.

Appealing a ruling after a trial is often tedious, expensive, and time consuming, especially for attorneys with solo practices or small firms. Appellate briefs, for example, typically consist of 20-50 pages, and include a table of contents, footnotes, exhibits, and tables of authorities.  The rules for the composition of appellate briefs are specific and strict.

Attorneys who specialize in appellate law help to tailor briefs and oral arguments for success according to the restrictions of the appellate arena.

One of these restrictions is brevity. Oral arguments must fit within set time limits and written briefs must not exceed a specific length. Appellate attorneys are skilled in crafting focused arguments for maximum relevance and impact with appellate judges.

The appellate team of Gibson & Perkins assist in all types of civil appeals claims, whether they involve businesses or individuals. Our attorneys have exceptional analytical, research, and brief writing skills. We have briefed and argued cases before every level of the state’s court system, all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.