Source: https://www.sandberglaw.com/articles/appeals-federal-courts-protecting-record-oral-argument/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 04:09:05+00:00

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Appeals in the Federal Courts: From Protecting the Record to Oral Argument - Craig M. Sandberg - Sandberg Law Office, P.C.
Although most practitioners have experience drafting pleadings in trial courts, not many have extensive experience drafting appellate pleadings. Still fewer have had an opportunity to file and argue an appeal in federal court. The nature of litigation is such that most of our collective time as attorneys is spent in the lower courts. It is likely that issues concerning appellate practice, however, come front and center when you lose in the trial court (or where your opponent believes your win in the lower court is tenuous).
Advocacy in the appellate court requires a unique approach. In addition to familiarity with the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (FRAP) and any applicable local appellate rules, the practitioner must seize the opportunities available in presenting an appellate brief and arguing to an appellate panel. The written submissions cannot be formulaic;2 rather, attorneys should take advantage of the flexibility that an appellate brief writer has in packaging arguments to meet the needs of a particular case. Additionally, while thorough preparation is a prerequisite to delivering a winning oral argument, the practitioner must appreciate that the framework of an appellate argument requires flexibility, not rigid adherence to a prepared outline. The oral presentation to the panel is the opportunity to address issues significant to that panel.
This article discusses the issues that the practitioner faces with regard to appellate practice and procedure. Considerations addressed include protecting the record in the lower court (thereby preserving issues for appeal), deciding when to appeal, drafting the brief, preparing for argument, and presenting the case to the panel.
Whether the appellant will succeed on appeal is directly related to the record below. Consequently, the appeal process starts in the trial court. In this regard, trial counsel needs to ensure that all rulings (pretrial and otherwise) are on the record, that timely objections are made, offers of proof are presented, and objections to improper instructions are properly stated.
The trial starts at or even before the pretrial motions. In many instances, the court will invite the attorneys into chambers to address any pretrial motions. For whatever reason, a court reporter is sometimes not present. Even though the pretrial motions have been filed with the court and are part of the record, it is still advisable to have the court reporter present for argument and ruling. In many cases, the court’s oral ruling and stated basis for the ruling will be significant in the reviewing court. Additionally, the appellant will almost always be hampered in pursuing an appeal where the record is silent. The trial attorney has the opportunity and obligation to preserve the record. As a practical matter, it may be difficult to ensure that every ruling, comment, or basis stated by the court is on the record, and it would be unwise to continually badger the court about every off- the-record statement. Consequently, where it matters, counsel should politely advise the court of the need to put the court’s ruling on the record.3 In most cases, the court will understand and appreciate counsel’s need to preserve the record.
Attorneys present their motions in limine in writing prior to the presentation of evidence. In this manner, the court has the opportunity to contemplate an evidentiary issue and the supporting legal analysis without the pressure of making a quick ruling from the bench during trial.
This alone, however, does not necessarily protect the record for appeal. A potential problem may arise in those instances where the court denies a motion in limine and the attorney fails to object later at trial when the contemplated evidence is presented to the jury. “Some appellate courts have adopted a strict rule that, notwithstanding a district court’s categorical denial of a motion in limine, evidentiary error is not preserved absent a contemporaneous objection.”6 Know the rule in your jurisdiction.
Many practitioners fail to timely object to trial testimony or evidence that is inconsistent with any ruling in limine entered in their favor. Although Rule 103 of the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) does not specifically require that an objection be interposed to preserve the issue for appeal, a timely objection during the trial would prevent any misunderstandings. The objection must be made contemporaneously with the proffered evidence; otherwise, courts of appeals may consider the failure to timely object a missed opportunity and, therefore, a forfeiture of that right.
The rule of thumb should be that if the proffered evidence or statement is not proper and is likely to be prejudicial, counsel must object to allow the trial court to cure the problem. Where the evi- dence or statement is so prejudicial that a curative instruction by the court would be insufficient, it may be appropriate and in certain cases necessary to seek a mistrial. The failure to object will almost always result in forfeiture for purposes of the appeal.
Attorneys contemplating an appeal must review the rulings made in the lower court to determine whether there is a basis to proceed. The record made by the trial attorney and the court will be determinative and the potential areas of appeal should be thoroughly researched to evaluate the likelihood of success. Regardless of the decision to appeal, the client must understand your recom- mendation and, in particular, the ramifications and alternatives flowing from any recommendation not to take an appeal.
Despite the occasional sentiment expressed by trial lawyers that “no special talent or training is needed to write a good brief on appeal,”30 many appeals are lost, or at least made harder to win, because of ineffective briefs. Part of this problem is the result of the infrequency with which many lawyers write appellate briefs. Also, many practitioners fail to appreciate that the job of preparing an effective brief is different from much other lawyering as it pertains to advocacy.
An effective brief requires practice within the Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, and any applicable local circuit rules. Those rules will provide guidance for everything from brief length (word count versus page count) to formatting the brief.
To represent clients properly, appellate practitioners must understand the goals of oral argument from both sides of the bench. They can then tailor their arguments to meet these goals.
The most important aspect of an effective appellate argument is thorough preparation so that all the information about the case and legal authorities is at the front of one’s mind, or at least one’s fingertips. After all, the main purpose of participating in the argument is to answer the court’s questions. The second aspect is condensation and simplification of the case so that the critical considerations that are needed to decide the case correctly can be presented in a few minutes if the questioning is intensive. The third aspect is the display of flexibility in responding to the court’s questions and giving the court a full answer, but then using each question as a stepping stone to return to the critical points in the case. One problem that often arises in oral argument is that questions cause counsel to lose their sense of direction. Effective argument means providing direct answers to the court’s questions and using the answers as transitions to return to the winning ideas. What should the substance of an oral argument be? Every moment granted to counsel to address the panel must be used effectively, and wise appellate practitioners will begin position- ing themselves immediately. The introduction should tell the judges in a couple of sentences how the case reached them, the type of case it is, the position, and what points the oral argu- ment will cover. Limit time addressing the facts unless there is specific tactical goal in doing so. Limit oral recitation of the straightforward statement of the brief to the three or four most critical points to prevent judges from missing subtle or rhetorical comments. When discussing cases, the oral argument should be used to convey the logic and common sense of counsel’s position. Know the record on appeal. Be prepared to answer questions about relevant parts of the record.
If appellate argument did not involve answering questions from the panel, it would just be persuasive speech. So do not dread receiving questions from the bench—embrace them. As noted above, judges may have multiple purposes in interrogating counsel. Listen carefully to the question asked to discern its purpose. Answer the question directly without evasion. The court is looking for credible responses to its questions. The panel reason- ably expects the attorney to be prepared to answer any question posed. Therefore, do not postpone the answer because the case may suffer. Do not attempt to bluff about authorities. If a case mentioned by the court is unfamiliar, the best course may include making an offer to the court to provide a supplemental response on that limited citation and its applicability. Be both nimble and flexible in successfully navigating oral argument. Avoid a regimented format of critical points.
Although much of the aforementioned information is equally applicable to appellees’ oral argument to the courts of appeals, there are some differences of note. First, appellee counsel should keep in mind that they prevailed in the lower court, and, therefore, it may be reasonable for them to feel differently about the appeal. Nevertheless, keep the following in mind: (1) Bring prepared notes that key the main points. Those points must make an affirmative case and give the judges the emotional and intellectual basis for affirming; (2) Draft an outline as the appellant speaks and note the main points to add that are responsive to the opponent’s argument and the judges’ comments; and (3) Correct only the opponent’s critical misstatements.38 As the appellant, do not forget to save time for rebuttal.
1. Andrew L. Frey & Roy T. Englert Jr., How to Write a Good Appellate Brief, 20 LITIG. No. 2, at 6 (Winter 1994).
3. Evan M. Tager, Tips on Preserving Arguments for Appeal, INS. L. WKLY. (Mealey) (Dec. 1, 1997).
4. 1 ROBERT S. HUNTER, TRIAL HANDBOOK FOR ILLINOIS LAWYERS § 4.4, 89 (7th ed. 1997).
6. Tager, supra note 3.
7. United States v. Sumner, 265 F.3d 532, 537 (7th Cir. 2001) (internal citations omitted).
8. United States v. Cooper, 243 F.3d 411, 416 (7th Cir. 2001).
9. FED. R. CIV. P. 50.
10. STEVEN BAICKER-MCKEE, WILLIAM M. JANSSEN & JOHN B. CORR, FEDERAL CIVIL RULES HANDBOOK 761 (2003).
11. Unitherm Food Sys., Inc. v. Swift-Eckrich, Inc., 126 S. Ct. 980, 983, 2006 U.S. LEXIS 916 (2006).
12. Tager, supra note 3.
13. Unitherm, 126 S. Ct. at 990 (Stevens, J., dissenting).
COMMERCIAL LITIGATION IN FEDERAL COURTS § 51:8 (2d ed. 2005).
16. FED. R. APP. P. 26(b).
17. FED. R. APP. P. 40.
18. FED. R. APP. P. 35.
19. Timothy S. Bishop, Opposing Certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw, www.appellate.net/articles/oppcertinsc.asp (accessed June 5, 2006).
20. BAICKER-MCKEE, JANSSEN & CORR, supra note 10, at 1118.
22. Jeffrey N. Cole, An Interview with Steve Shapiro, 23 LITIG. No. 2, at 23 (Winter 1997).
26. Id. (Steve Shapiro, responding to now-Judge Jeffrey Cole’s suggestion that one of former Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo’s greatest attributes as a judge was that “he could present facts so persuasively that the legal conclusions seemed inevitable”).
30. Frey & Englert, supra note 1.
33. Andrew L. Frey, Preparing and Delivering Oral Argument, Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw, www.appellate.net/articles/prepdel799.asp (accessed June 5, 2006).
36. McCaskill v. SCI Mgmt. Corp., 298 F.3d 677, 680 (7th Cir. 2002).
37. Frey, Oral Argument, supra note 33.
40. Daniel C. Vock, Appellate Lawyers’ Version of High Wire Act: Oral Argument, 15 CHI. DAILY L. BULL. No. 81 (April 24, 2004).
41. Christine Hogan, May It Please the Court, 27 LITIG. No 4, at 8 (Summer 2001).

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