Utah Chief Appellate Attorney
An “appeal” is the process for a higher court to review the actions of a lower court. Some litigants mistakenly think an appeal gives a chance to have another judge decide the case. That is not quite true. The higher court does not decide the case as though it were a trial judge hearing the case for the first time. Instead, the appeals court reviews the actions of the lower court under rules that generally give deference to the lower court decision.
Handling an appeal requires skills that are different from trial work. Technical concepts such as marshaling the evidence, standards of review, and being limited to the record on appeal must be second nature to an appellate lawyer. Experienced appellate lawyers can focus immediately on the substantive issues important to winning the case without wasting time learning the specialized procedures and formats of an appeal brief. Unfortunately, some otherwise valid appeals are lost because the appeals are not presented in the required manner.
The lawyers of Howard Lewis & Petersen, PC, have handled hundreds of appeals. We have represented clients before the United States Supreme Court, the Utah Supreme Court, the Utah Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and other appellate courts. The cases have included domestic matters, adoptions, administrative law, business disputes, personal injury, medical malpractice, products liability, real estate contracts, easements and public road issues, criminal convictions, and death penalty appeals. Many of the cases handled by this firm have resulted in precedent-setting opinions that are often cited by the courts. With that experience, the lawyers of this firm have the background to competently handle almost any appellate matter.
