Court Appeals
Handling a case in the appellate courts requires an entirely different set of skills than handling a case in the trial court. In appeals, the territory is far different than the typical trial setting, and successful appeals hinge on a team of lawyers who know the unique standards of review and procedures that the appellate courts follow.
Kennedy Childs & Fogg's Appellate Practice Group consists of lawyers who specialize in processing appeals in the state and federal appellate courts of Colorado and adjoining jurisdictions. Our appellate attorneys bring the kind of specialized skills necessary to overturn adverse judgments and uphold favorable ones. Our appellate attorneys can evaluate a potential appeal at the outset to determine its likelihood of success and can guide our clients toward a successful resolution in the appellate court.
Procedural rules are different in the appellate courts. Our lawyers know how to process an appeal quickly and navigate through the appellate system without getting caught in procedural traps that may befall lawyers who lack experience in this area. Our lawyers routinely appear before appellate judges and have developed professional rapport and enhanced credibility among these judges and court personnel over the years.
Our team of appellate practitioners offer clients considering or facing an appeal:
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Extensive experience with appellate procedure, rules, and standards of review, which often determine the outcome of an appeal.
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Appellate specialists with broad experience with the tools necessary for successful appeals, such as brief writing, legal research and oral argument, typically not the province of trial lawyers.
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Appellate lawyers who target and prioritize the primary issues most likely to succeed on appeal with a detached and objective approach that is often lacking in trial attorneys due to their intimate involvement in the case.
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Appellate specialists know how to best approach appellate judges, who are rarely persuaded by the kind of emotional arguments that may sway a jury.
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In-depth and current knowledge of the latest court decisions and new trends and developments in the law.
Administrative Appeals
Our Appellate Practice Group also handles appeals from state and federal administrative agencies, including appeals from rule-making, regulatory and disciplinary actions, in both the district and appellate courts. In administrative appeals, the standards of judicial review are more restrictive than in court appeals, and such appeals consequently require a more careful analysis of the issues to be successful. Our Appellate Practice Group can bring this kind of analysis and experience to an appeal from an administrative agency.
Arbitration Appeals
Our Appellate Practice Group handles appeals from arbitration decisions as well. In arbitration appeals, the grounds for judicial review are even narrower than in administrative appeals. Besides defending against appeals from arbitration decisions, we can advise clients whether a contemplated appeal from an arbitration decision has a likelihood of success based on our experience and familiarity with the standards for arbitration appeals.
Petitions, Writs and Original Proceedings
Not every order of a trial court can be immediately appealed. If a pre-trial order has a severe effect on jurisdiction, discovery, or trial efficiencies, we can assist trial counsel in obtaining a writ from an appellate court to review an adverse order.
We also defend against petitions for writs and other original proceedings in the appellate courts, with the recognition that the effects of such cases can be long-lasting and far-reaching, and can have an impact on others that goes beyond the parties to the particular case.
Amicus Curiae Briefs
Depending on its outcome, an appeal can often have a tremendous ripple-effect on persons and organizations who are not parties to the case. In those cases, we provide a means for such persons and organizations to present their concerns to the court as an amicus curiae ("friend of the court"). A brief of amicus curiae will advise the appellate court how its decision will affect their specific interests, even if those interests are not directly aligned with the parties to the case. In many cases, the appellate court will look to a persuasive amicus brief in deciding issues implicated by the case that have not been raised or addressed by the parties. A cogent amicus brief allows interested persons and organizations to present arguments that go beyond the limited issues of the case, and to address not only the real-world implications of the court’s decision but also the important public policies that underlie their positions. Our Appellate Practice Group works with persons and organizations interested in the outcome of an appeal on how to best develop and present their issues and arguments to the court.
Trial Assistance and Monitoring
Where an appeal is likely to be taken in a case regardless of the outcome at trial, our appellate team can assist at the trial court level in many ways, including:
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Researching, developing, and framing arguments on issues and rulings likely to be appealed.
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Ensuring that key issues are adequately preserved for appellate review.
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Assisting trial counsel in making an adequate record for appeal on evidentiary objections, jury instructions, and rulings in limine.
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Providing an independent and objective analysis and evaluation of legal and evidentiary issues likely to be appealed.
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Developing a legal strategy that looks beyond trial toward an anticipated appeal, including strategies for settlement.
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Advising trial counsel and clients on the likelihood of success on appeal, and on which issues are most likely to succeed.
Our appellate lawyers can assist trial counsel with writing motions, briefs, preparing and reviewing jury instructions, preparing post-trial motions, and assisting trial counsel in framing and preserving potential issues for appeal, such as making proper and timely objections, offers of proof, and dispositive motions at trial. We can provide assistance to trial counsel who have little time to devote to such matters, which often get lost in the complexities of preparing for trial. In addition, our Appellate Practice Group can provide assistance in obtaining stays of execution of adverse judgments and appeal bonds to secure those judgments.
We also monitor trials to ensure potential issues for appeal are identified. This can be extremely helpful to the client and trial counsel, who often may not appreciate the significance of how certain rulings can open doors for subsequent appeal. Appellate counsel can also help trial counsel to avoid waiving or failing to apprehend important issues and arguments that may be critical on appeal, but whose significance may not be immediately apparent at trial.
Getting an appellate lawyer involved at the trial level is cost-effective for a variety of reasons. Appellate counsel are more cost-effective (and thorough) in performing legal research and writing than trial counsel, who may be pressed for time due to trial efficiencies, and who may delegate such responsibilities to lower-level associates who lack the knowledge, efficiency or experience of appellate counsel. Moreover, the appellate lawyer who becomes involved at the trial level has the opportunity to become familiar with the case and its issues early on, thus reducing not only the cost of having to learn the case from the ground up after the trial ends but also the cost of scouring the record to find potential issues for appeal.