Criminal appeals or any post-conviction proceedings are similar to a civil appeals process. A criminal appeal requires experience for an appellate attorney to review all pre-trial and trial transcripts and documents in a meticulous search for issues that may be raised for appellate review. Whether the issue deals with evidentiary rulings during trial or errors of law, an appellate attorney has a difficult and arduous task to look for any mistake during the pre-conviction stage.
As such, an appellate attorney’s skills, approach, audience, and goals are far different than that of the trial attorney. Most judges and attorneys agree with this statement. An appellate attorney must have superior research, writing, and oratory skills. Where a trial attorney speaks to a jury pool from the community, an appellate attorney speaks to and ultimately must persuade a panel of highly skilled appellate judges. Appellate judges have many, many written briefs to read; thus, it is important for a highly-skilled appellate attorney to bring a criminal appeal to life.
It is important to also consider that appeals are expensive. Communication and understanding the process and opinion of the likelihood of success is a critical component of the appellate attorney’s responsibility. The decision to appeal belongs to the client, but an appellate attorney on a criminal appeal should always be responsive, informed, and actively lawyering at all phases of the appeal process including while the decision to proceed with the appeal is being made.
Elniski Law has skillfully, zealously, and successfully argued cases on appeal. As appellate law is a highly specialized and challenging area, if you are faced with a decision to appeal or are forced to defend an appeal, contact us for an experienced appellate review. If we accept your case, we will set forth our most skillful and zealous representation on appeal.