Service
Appellate
Montgomery McCracken’s Appellate Practice includes attorneys who have won appeals in the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Third Circuit and other circuits, the Supreme, Superior, and Commonwealth Courts of Pennsylvania, and the appellate courts of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and other states. Many attorneys in the group had judicial clerkships in federal and state courts and have served on the law reviews or faculties of leading law schools.
Excellence in appellate advocacy demands a particular combination of skills that even the most skilled trial lawyers may not possess. The likelihood of prevailing on appeal increases significantly when a party’s briefs are compelling, carefully researched, and well-written. At oral argument, advocates with appellate experience understand how to answer judges’ questions persuasively—a different skill than delivering an impassioned speech to a jury. In deciding what arguments will best serve our clients’ interests on appeal, we capitalize on existing precedent, differentiate less favorable cases, and provide solutions to appellate judges concerned about how their rulings will apply in future cases.
Attorneys in our Appellate Practice regularly handle appeals after our colleagues ably represented clients in a trial court or before an administrative agency. Our task is to convince the appellate court to uphold our client’s victory below. Other times, clients may retain us when their cases reach the appellate stage, either to contest a disappointing result or defend a successful outcome. In those cases, we work cooperatively with the client’s other lawyers to seek the best possible outcome on appeal.
In addition to traditional appellate work, attorneys from the group serve as extra hands at trial to focus on preservation issues, evidentiary proffers, motions in limine, and bench briefs. We also provide extra support to busy trial attorneys before trial by handling significant briefing like summary judgment and class certification.
appellate services:
- We research and write appellate briefs, including amicus curiae briefs, for filing in federal and state appellate courts.
- We research and write petitions for mandamus or other extraordinary relief.
- We present oral argument to appellate courts.
- We research and write petitions seeking discretionary review in the Supreme Court of the United States, federal circuit courts, and other appellate courts like the Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, and the New York Court of Appeals.
- We assist in preparing significant trial court briefs.
Why Should you Hire an Appellate Attorney?
- You need fresh eyes. Trial lawyers can be too close to their own cases to handle an appeal. Appellate judges have a different focus than trial judges, and the law takes center stage instead of the facts. Whether you won or lost below, we can take a fresh look at your case and craft the best possible arguments to secure or maintain a win.
- You are trying a high-stakes case. Is the case likely to be appealed? We can serve as embedded appellate counsel to let you focus on witnesses and the facts while we handle preservation of objections, evidentiary proffers, and other thorny legal issues that come up midstream.
- You need deep appellate experience. We are former federal and state law clerks from both the appellate and trial levels who know how judges think about legal issues. We have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in appellate briefing and oral argument and can leverage this deep experience for our clients.
- You don’t have time to dedicate to briefing an appeal. We will dig into the record and put in the time to identify the best arguments. Whether the appeal is from a decision at the pleading stage, summary judgment, or trial, we will prioritize your client’s interests and produce high-quality, persuasive briefing.
Experience
Appellate Leadership
SHARED THINKING
Recent Third Circuit Opinion Reinforces That Daubert Requires Courts to Examine the Data Underlying an Expert’s Analysis
Meta Platforms, Inc. recently defeated certification of a class of consumers who claim the company lied about its user privacy safeguards and violated antitrust laws. The court sided with Meta […]
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Heckman v. Live Nation Entertainment: A Warning Shot for Mass Arbitration Protocols That Fail to Preserve Bilateral Arbitration
The introduction of mass arbitration—where numerous consumers (sometimes hundreds of thousands) file similar individual claims in arbitration—has prompted many companies to modify their arbitration clauses to help manage the unique […]
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Court Applies Strong Presumption Against Impossibility Preemption in ‘In re Fosamax’
On September 20, 2024, the Third Circuit issued a published opinion in In re Fosamax Products Liability Litig., No. 22-3412, __ F.4th __, 2024 WL 4247311 (3d Cir. Sept. 20, […]
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Montgomery McCracken Welcomes Two New Attorneys
Montgomery McCracken is pleased to announce the addition of two attorneys to the firm’s Litigation Department. Carson Morris will be based in the Philadelphia office and Gabriella Petrillo will be […]
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