Appeals and Writs
Appellate briefs
We write appellate briefs in both state and federal courts.
We've worked on appeals from weeks-long trials, from case-dispositive motions, and from post-judgment matters. We first review the record to assess the likelihood of success. If we see that the trial court was clearly right, and we can’t make a worthwhile argument for you, then we won’t take your case. If the chance of success is uncertain, we may suggest that you let us spend a day or so to research and prepare a memo on the issues and our assessment of the likely outcome. You'll then have something on which to base your decision about whether to go forward with the appeal.
Extraordinary writ petitions
We also draft writ petitions, including petitions for review in the California Supreme Court. For the most part, we discourage writ petitions because the courts grant so few of them. The risk/reward ratio tilts toward risk.
One year we had three writ petitions granted, a personal best, but that kind of success is rare. Still, if you do have that unusual case where the lower court's ruling is just plainly wrong, we'll write you the tightest, most sharply pointed writ petition we can. We just can't guarantee success, even if you have a strong case.