AN APPEAL TO REASON

To fully understand how trial attorneys can assist in the appellate process, one must appreciate the differences between trial attorneys and appellate practitioners. Why is that helpful? Well, the appellate attorney may become part of the trial team and an understanding of how he or she works may help in communicating and dividing tasks.

Before the trial attorney comes along, there are no transcripts or records. It is up to the trial attorney to create them. The trial attorney must take a naked set of facts presented by the client and attempt to weave them into a coherent story. This story must be persuasive to a jury or the court. The trial attorney's work - whether taking depositions, appearing for motions or trying a case - is done in a public forum. He or she may be more concerned with the big picture, i.e., how an accumulation of those facts may affect the jury or judge. Trial attorneys interact constantly with people, and their job, to a large extent, is dependent on the spoken word.

Trial attorneys tend to be risk-takers, especially if they are hired on a contingency fee basis. They are willing to take cases, knowing there is a possibility they will lose and not get paid (not to mention the expenditure of costs on the client's behalf). A case may rise or fall on a jury or the court's impressions of the personalities of the trial attorneys and their clients.

In the next post, we'll take a look at appellate attorneys.