If you have decided to hire an appellate attorney, it means you have gone through trial and are not satisfied with the ruling delivered by the lower court. Now that you are thinking of making an appeal, you must go with a skilful appellate attorney. You need to hire an attorney who is well-versed in navigating through the legal waters in case of appeals. This is important because the right attorney can increase your chances of success. Here are a few things that you need to remember when hiring an appellate attorney.
Experience matters a lot
Mastering the skills needed to become a polished appellate attorney takes time and experience. Leafing through documents for errors, carrying out thorough research, penning down persuasive briefs, and presenting effective arguments to judges are all part of an appellate attorney’s job. How well he or she carries out these tasks can make all the difference in a case. You need someone who is vastly experienced in handling appeals. So, experience should be the first criteria for your selecting an appellate attorney.
The appeal must be handled by the attorney
The appellate attorney you select must handle every aspect of your case. Remember that your attorney should be the one with whom you discuss the case details. Further, he or she should be the one to present the brief and argue your case in front of the judges. Sometimes it’s seen that some lawyers take up appeal cases and then refer them to their subordinates. Make sure that this doesn’t happen to you. Before hiring an appellate attorney, ensure that he or she will be handling your case until the end.
The attorney must have persuasive writing skills
Appellate lawyers need to possess exceptional writing skills. A brief is regarded as the most important part of an appeal. An attorney writes a brief in order to state the facts related to the case and set forth the legal arguments. Based on the briefs, the judges decide if the request for verbal arguments will be entertained by the court or not. As such, it’s extremely important that the brief must be written persuasively and clearly. This means the writing skills of your appellate attorney has to be of excellent standards. So, be sure of this aspect before you hire your appellate attorney.
The attorney must be a refined orator
Presenting arguments in front of a jury in a lower court is vastly different from doing so in front of the judges’ panel in a higher court when handling an appeal. Unlike the trial courts, no examination or cross-examination of witnesses takes place in such courts. The appellate lawyers have to argue their case orally and provide satisfactory responses to the questions put forward by the judges. There is no hard and fast rule as to what sort of question a judge can ask your attorney. So, your attorney must be skilled enough to rise up to the occasion and respond in the best possible manner. As such, you need to hire an appellate attorney who is a refined orator.
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