Appellate

Montgomery McCracken’s Appellate Practice includes attorneys who have won appeals that they argued or briefed in the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Third Circuit and most 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 American law schools.

Excellence in appellate advocacy demands a particular combination of skills that even many highly qualified trial lawyers do not possess. The likelihood of prevailing on appeal increases significantly if a party files briefs that are compellingly reasoned, carefully researched, and well written. Highly qualified appellate advocates also have significant oral argument experience and understand how to provide persuasive answers to the judges’ questions—a skill that differs from being able to deliver an impassioned speech to a jury. In deciding what approaches and arguments are likely to best serve our clients’ interests on appeal, we are mindful that appellate courts often must contend with a substantial body of existing precedent and are focused on how their rulings will apply in future cases.

Attorneys in our Appellate Practice regularly work on appeals for clients that we represented in the trial court or before an administrative agency, and often our task is to convince the appellate court to uphold our client’s victory below. Other clients first retain us when their cases reach the appellate stage, either to overturn a disappointing result or to defend a successful outcome. In such cases, we work cooperatively and constructively with the client’s other lawyers in seeking the best possible outcome on appeal. In addition to appellate work, attorneys from the group are available to work on significant briefs for submission to trial courts and administrative agencies.

Experience