Find Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona for Appellate Practice
Practice Area Overview
Appellate practice involves different skills and strategic considerations than trial practice. On appeal, the focus shifts from developing and proving facts (through discovery, examining witnesses, and trial) to the legal issues that decide the case. Effective appellate advocacy thus demands a formulation of the issues that is focused on what is important to a panel of appellate judges deciding the case.
In formulating the issues on appeal, an appellate lawyer conducts thorough legal research; analyzes the legal issues in light of the rule-making and policy considerations that shape the development of law; and then presents the facts and those issues and arguments selected for appeal concisely in a persuasive appellate brief.
The importance of a well-crafted appellate brief cannot be exaggerated. Appellate briefs receive greater judicial scrutiny than written materials prepared at trial because they are reviewed by a panel of judges, rather than a single judge, along with those judges’ larger legal staff, under comparatively less time pressure than exists in the trial court. As one appellate court has explained, appellate work is “most assuredly not the recycling of trial level points and authorities” but instead “entails rigorous original work in its own right” and “offers counsel probably their best opportunity to craft work of original, professional, and, on occasion, literary value.” In re Marriage of Shaban, 88 Cal. App. 4th 398, 408-10 (2001).
After the appellate briefing, oral argument is an opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the appellate judges regarding the issues in the case. To be effective, appellate oral advocacy must be keyed to the unique concerns of the appellate forum – avoiding emotional or fact-based pleas that may play well before a jury, but instead focusing on the dispositive legal issues, being sure to answer the judges’ questions.
In addition to the practice in the appellate courts, appellate lawyers play important roles in the trial courts. Appellate lawyers collaborate with trial counsel on strategic and tactical matters to raise all applicable arguments and make the appropriate trial record, identifying and preserving legal issues as they arise and crafting effective motions on substantive legal issues – before, during, and after trial.
Therefore, involving an appellate lawyer in a case as early as possible is important to ensure the best chance of success both at trial and on appeal.
Prior to joining Gallagher & Kennedy, Mr. Clark served as a law clerk to the Honorable Mary M. Schroeder, Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Mr. Clark has also maintained an appellate practice. Prior to focusing his practice on plaintiffs’ personal injury and wrongful death cases, he handled a wide-range of cases, including criminal defense, insurance defense and commercial litigation. His recent experience includes: Served as Co-Lead Counsel for over 70 vic...
Ben Cooper advocates for clients in high-stakes appeals and writ proceedings in the U.S. Supreme Court, federal circuit courts, and state supreme and intermediate appellate courts from coast to coast. Ben’s practice also emphasizes both trial-court and appellate representation in such fields as intellectual-property protection and e-commerce disputes; federal, state, and local taxation; insurance coverage and bad-faith defense; and public pension plans. In the U.S. Court of Appeals for ...
Mark practices commercial litigation and co-chairs the firm’s appellate practice section, handling civil appeals in the state and federal courts. For 25 years, he has represented clients in a wide variety of areas, including business torts and contracts, securities fraud, trade secrets, employment, professional malpractice, officer and director liability, and real estate litigation. Mark has been named a Best Lawyer by the Best Lawyers in America since 2009 , and is also recognized by A...
Andy is a litigator and election lawyer who assists clients in complex commercial matters, election disputes and compliance, appeals, and matters involving state and local governments. He has also helped clients throughout Arizona in matters arising under the state’s Public Records Law. In addition, Andy maintains an active pro bono practice, which has included litigating tort claims on behalf of a group of refugee farmers, successfully representing individuals appealing orders of remov...
A cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Rob has devoted the past three decades to complex, high-stakes, and often high-profile appeals of final judgments, preliminary injunctions and other interlocutory decrees, petitions for writs of certiorari (review) and mandamus (special actions), certified questions, and appellate motion practice in state and federal courts throughout the United States. He recently argued State v. Jones before the Arizona Supreme Court, representi...
Daryl Manhart is an AV® Preeminent 5.0 out of 5 peer review rated attorney in Martindale-Hubbell. He is a senior shareholder handling commercial and real estate transactions, commercial litigation, and general business representation. Daryl is also the firm’s principal appellate attorney handling civil appeals, including special actions, in state and federal appellate courts in diverse practice areas, including cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. The firm’s trial lawyers regu...
Bradley D. Pack joined Engelman Berger after completing a clerkship for the Arizona Court of Appeals, Hon. Susan A. Ehrlich. His practice focuses on the representation of both creditors and debtors in Chapter 11 bankruptcies, receiverships, and complex loan workouts. Bradley also represents lending institutions and small and medium-sized businesses in commercial litigation matters concerning business loan and contract disputes. In addition, he has successfully represented litigants in appeals...
Hannah concentrates on commercial litigation and has represented clients in a wide variety of areas such as breach of contract and fiduciary duties, fraud, business ownership disputes, construction litigation, and product liability. Prior to joining Gallagher & Kennedy, Hannah was a law clerk for Justice Robert M. Brutinel of the Arizona Supreme Court, where she worked on a multitude of legal issues, including issues concerning the Arizona and U.S. Constitutions, statutory interpretation ...
Kathi Sandweiss, a former award-winning television journalist, now enjoys a combined arbitration and appellate practice. She is a partner at Jaburg & Wilk, P.C., where she has practiced law over 30 years. Since 2016, Kathi has been an active commercial arbitrator on the roster of the American Arbitration Association. Her AAA cases have included complex asbestos trust claims, franchise agreements, service agreements, landlord/tenant disputes, emergency injunctive relief in a cannabis dispu...
Spencer represents and advises businesses, non-profits, and individuals in a broad range of matters in state and federal courts. He is admitted to practice in California, Arizona, New York, and the District of Columbia (inactive). He served as a law clerk to two judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit---the Hon. Mary M. Schroeder and the Hon. Andrew D. Hurwitz. Prior to founding Scharff PC, Spencer practiced with an international law firm in Los Angeles and a boutique litiga...
Dallin Holt is Of Counsel at Holtzman Vogel with a primary focus on redistricting, First Amendment, election-related litigation and appeals, and TCPA compliance and litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Dallin worked as a litigation associate in Midland and Dallas, Texas, and also as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Waco, Texas. In these positions, he tried over a hundred cases to final verdict/judgment. Before law school, Dallin spent several years as a political communications co...
Kate’s practice is focused on commercial litigation, insurance law, coverage, and bad faith litigation law. She has assisted clients with defensive work at other Phoenix area law firms including coverage analysis and appellate review and briefs. From 2015-2019, Kate worked as a clerk at the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division 1. During her tenure at the court, she clerked for Judges Donn Kessler, Maria Elena Cruz, James P. Beene and James Morse Jr. In 2020, she clerked for Justice James ...
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