Washington DC Appeals Attorneys – District of Columbia Appellate Law
Longman & Van Grack’s Washington DC appellate attorneys consists of lawyers who have not only handled appeals in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit but also lawyers who have served as judicial law clerks on various courts. Thus, our DC appeals lawyers are very familiar with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and District of Columbia Circuit appellate rules, procedure, and advocacy. Each Washington DC appellate attorney at Longman & Van Grack is familiar with the both the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and each appeals attorney is well-versed in research, writing, and oral argument. The District of Columbia appeals lawyers at Longman & Van Grack have significant experience in appellate law.
If your case was initially heard in the District of Columbia Superior Court, your case can be appealed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals (DC’s highest appellate court) by a DC appellate attorney at Longman & Van Grack. If your case was initially heard in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, your case can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by a DC appellate attorney at Longman & Van Grack. If your case was has been ruled upon by the DC Court of Appeals or the U.S. Court of Appeals from the DC Circuit, you can petition for your case to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court by a DC appellate attorney at Longman & Van Grack.
The District of Columbia Appeals Process
Neither the District of Columbia Court of Appeals nor the U.S. Court of Appeals from the DC Circuit will afford you a new trial and each appellate court will not hear new evidence that was failed to be presented to the trial court. Rather, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals from the DC Circuit will review what transpired in the trial court and determine whether proper procedures were followed and the law was applied correctly. These appellate courts does not defer to the trial court or jury findings regarding factual issues, and only examine how the law was applied during the trial.
To initiate a DC appeal, the appellant the party appealing a decision in Washington DC is required file a notice of appeal in the trial court and designate an appellate record consisting of materials from the trial court which the appellant wishes to present to the appellate court.
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals from the DC Circuit cases generally involve three legal briefs, all of which must contain citations to cases and statutory or other legal authorities. Briefs must also contain proper citations to the designated appellate record. First, the appellant files an opening brief with the court of appeals. This Court of Appeals brief is required to explain the factual and procedural history of the case, in a neutral fashion, and then state how the trial court erred and why the appellate court should reverse the ruling. The appellee, who sometimes called the respondent, then files a responsive brief with the DC appellate court. Like the opening brief, a DC Court of Appeals response should also neutrally explain the factual and procedural history, followed by argument that the trial court was correct and the ruling should not be reversed. Finally, the appellant then will be given an opportunity to file a reply brief in the court.
In the reply, the appellant is able to argue against the claims made in the appellee’s responsive brief, but they are not permitted to introduce any new legal arguments. The DC Court of Appeals reply must only address statements made in the responsive brief.
Typically, after the briefs are filed in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals from the DC Circuit, a panel of the Court of Appeals judges will hear oral argument, which can take place anywhere from a few months to a year or more after the appeal is filed. However, each court of appeals can decide cases based solely on the briefs, without hearing oral argument. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals from the DC Circuit panel will issue a written opinion stating their decision and the reasoning behind it. At the Court of Appeals’ discretion, the opinion may be published in the official reports and become binding authority over future cases. The timing of the court’s written opinion is generally a period of several months.
District of Columbia Appellate Law at Longman & Van Grack
Longman & Van Grack’s DC appeals attorneys can work exclusively on an appeal or work on an appellate matter with trial counsel. Specifically, our District of Columbia appellate lawyers will review the Superior Court’s record, research all of the relevant legal issues which could be evaluated on appeal, draft the necessary briefs to be submitted to the DC Court of Appeals, and present the case to the Court of Appeals court during oral argument.
Each District of Columbia appeals attorneys at Longman & Van Grack regularly seeks and defends appeals at each court in the District of Columbia. Before accepting a DC appeal on behalf of a client seeking to overturn a judgment or decision in the District of Columbia Superior Court or District Court for the District of Columbia, Longman & Van Grack’s DC appellate attorneys will first review the trial court’s record and evaluate the strengths of the case and likelihood of success on appeal to the appellate court.
Each Longman & Van Grack’s Washington DC appeals attorney works closely with other lawyers in the firm’s DC civil litigation group as well as with lawyers in all the Longman & Van Grack’s practice groups. It is the goal of each DC appellate attorney from our firm to ensure that your appeals case is litigated to the best of our firm’s ability. We emphasis attention to detail in each DC appeals case that we are involved in. If you would like to discuss our assistance with a District of Columbia appeal, call Longman & Van Grack’s DC appellate attorneys today at (301) 291-5027 to schedule a consultation in our District of Columbia appeals office (on K Street, NW, Washington, DC).
