When people learn their case is heading into the Alabama appellate court system, a common question is whether they need to hire an appellate lawyer to handle the appeal Many people choose to hire an appellate attorney who focuses his practice on appeals rather than continue to use their trial lawyer, since most trial lawyers do not have much experience in the appellate courts. Many of our cases come to us as referrals from trial lawyers, but often we are contacted directly by people who want to discuss their chances on appeal with an experienced appellate attorney.
Whether your trial lawyer has enough appellate court experience to handle your appeal is a matter that can only be determined on a case-by-case basis. However, there are specific issues that should be weighed in making that decision. We have posted some blog posts on this topic that may help people who are deciding whether they should hire an appellate lawyer. One of these is called Mistakes Trial Lawyers Make With Appeals in Alabama, which discusses several articles dealing with the topic of trial lawyer mistakes in the appellate court system. Another article, Should Trial Lawyers Handle Their Own Appeals, discusses what several appellate court judges have said about whether a person should switch to an appellate lawyer when the case goes into the appellate court system. These articles will be helpful to anyone deciding whether it is time to change to a new lawyer for an appeal.
If you are a potential client seeking a new lawyer on appeal, please call us at (800) 737-3702 or visit our Contact page to email us about your case.
Alabama State Bar rules require the following disclaimer in all attorney advertisements: “No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of services provided by other attorneys.”
