Appeal Attorneys

In our view, an appeal begins when the case is initiated in the trial court because a party generally cannot raise issues on appeal that it did not raise in the trial court, and the appellate court does not consider evidence outside the trial court record. For these reasons, clients and trial attorneys often benefit from early involvement of appellate counsel before the trial court enters an appealable order.

In many cases, we recommend filing a timely motion for rehearing in the trial court before initiating an appellate action. This provides an additional opportunity to alert the trial court of any error it may have committed and to preserve additional arguments for appeal.

In most jurisdictions, the notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the final judgment. This is a mandatory time limit and a failure to seek timely review will result in a dismissal of the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. In Florida, some post-judgment motions toll the time to file the notice of appeal, but a motion to reconsider a nonfinal order does not. 

Strong legal writing can be hard to find. In our practice, we often encounter very long appellate briefs that read more like a stream of the lawyer's consciousness than an organized, well-supported analysis. Our method involves deep and comprehensive research into legal theory and the principles underlying the blackletter law. We develop an analytical framework that supports a succinct, logical, and compelling presentation of the correctness of our clients' positions. After analyzing the facts under the appropriate framework, we address the defects in each of our opponent's counterpoints. We generally do not acknowledge ad hominem attacks or offensive personalities from the other side. Appellate courts are concerned with legal analysis on the issues and are generally not persuaded by an attorney's expressions of outrage at an opponent's position.

If the appellate court issues an adverse ruling, the losing party should consider whether to file a post-decision motion or seek further review in a higher appellate court. In Florida, the rules provide for filing a motion for rehearing, for rehearing en banc, for clarification, or—in cases where the court affirms without opinion—a written opinion. The grounds for seeking rehearing are limited to pointing out matters reflected in the written opinion that the appellate court apparently either overlooked or misunderstood. A motion for rehearing should never be used to merely re-argue the briefs, assert new matters that could have been raised in the briefs, or express frustration at the appellate court's ruling. In some cases, the losing party may have a chance to seek review from a higher appellate court. The grounds for further review become narrower the higher up the appellate ladder the case travels. We carefully weigh each option to determine the best course of action for our clients.