Advanced Appellate Advocacy: A Crash Course

This course provides a solid understanding of the basic principles of appellate litigation, including the procedural and substantive issues involved in preparing an appeal.  It will explore the theoretical issues and obstacles that an appellate attorney typically faces, as well as the typical answers an appellate court typically gives.

Attorneys in this program will primarily observe the principles of appellate doctrine, including the basics of appellate review, the limits of an appellate court’s scope of review, the standards of review that an appellate court applies when determining the law, and common theory pitfalls.

This presentation is designed for legal interns, law clerks, junior attorneys, supervising attorneys, law firm leaders, in-house counsel, judges, judicial clerks, and paralegals who want to learn to identify patterns in appellate theory and apply appellate principles in practice. This presentation is intended for intermediate and advanced legal audiences, but all are welcome.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine the patterns behind appellate structure and theory.
• Determine the difference between appealing as of right and by permission.
• Distinguish a court’s review based on preserving an error by objection and situations where the error was unpreserved.
• Identify the classifications of appellate standards of review on the law and when the standards apply.
• Evaluate whether a harmless error analysis applies.
• Recognize the practical takeaways of the theoretical appellate principles into practice.