After a trial, the losing party often has too much at stake, emotionally or financially, to let the verdict stand unchallenged. Appeal is the next option, but many litigants do not fully understand how different an appeal is from a trial. They may also underestimate the differences between trial lawyers and appellate lawyers. These differences may be overlooked when inexperienced litigants launch an appeal. The following is a discussion of common mistakes that such litigants regularly make.
Selecting the Wrong Counsel
Many litigants presume that their original trial counsel knows the case best and is competent to handle an appeal. Thus, they automatically let trial counsel pursue the appeal. But the fact is that trials and appeals require lawyers with different skills. A good trial lawyer relies on charisma and oral advocacy to persuade a jury of laypersons to accept the lawyer’s view of the facts. A good appellate lawyer persuades an audience of judges and relies almost
