3.C appellate process Flashcards
two purposes
- correct mistakes in law
- provide for uniformity in the law
(policy making is not a primary purpose it is a byproduct)
what cases are more appealed nationally
criminal
most important factor to appeal
financial cost
what are the 2 major cost in filing an appeal
- attorney fee
2. cost of transcript
first level appellate court/intermediate
- get case by appeal
- gets no discretion has to take all cases
ex: U.S court of appeals & MD court of special appeals
second level appellate court
gets all/ nearly all cases by petition
ex: U.S. supreme court & MD court of appeals
Party who appeals
Appellant
Appellant v. Appelle
appellants brief
sets forth the mistakes in law that have been made and offers legal support
-prepared by lawyer
legal support
usually offered in appellate court opinions of any type as they contain legal reasoning
who prepares the appellant and brief and transcript
lawyer
what does the appellees brief show
there is not a mistake in law
reply brief
appellants brief lawyer can send a reply brief to the appellees lawyer
-don’t ignore cases that favor the appellee, meet head on
amicus curiae briefs
“friend of the court” not a party but has information
- can do any time
- interest groups/ individual need to get courts permission or permission from the party they are submitting on behalf
- very little impact on judges decision
oral argument in first level appellate courts
- may or may not occur
- each side gets same amount of time
- appellants lawyer first (show burden of proof)
- appellate lawyer asks questions of lawyer- lawyer must answer
- Socratic method used in law school to prepare for this
- ONLY time for direct interaction between lawyers and judges in appellate case
- judges meet at a later time to discuss case and decide who wins then designate a judge to write majority opinion
majority opinion
entails who wins case with legal reasoning
concurring opinion
agrees the winning party is the winning party but for different legal reasoning
dissenting opinion
believe the losing party should have been the winner with legal reasoning
second level appellate courts
- petition from first level
- petitioner lawyer submits brief revised with first courts decision-given to respondents lawyer so they can create a respondents brief
writ of certiorari
court order to send up record of the case
- not automatically sent up here since so many petitions are denied
- lawyers are sometimes asked to submit
oral argument in second level
- very likely (full treatment)
- supreme court gives 30 min per side
- petitions lawyer go first (show burden of proof)
- majority opinion more likely to have concurring then dissenting opinion in second level (used for companion cases)
easing judges workload
- use of abbreviated procedures
- written material only
- per curaim opinion
- full treatment cases to everything but companion cases
per curaim opinion
opinion of the court rather than the judge, lets the parties know who wins or loses usually in first level
companion cases
a group of two or more cases which are consolidated by an appellate court while on appeal and are decided together because they concern one or more common legal issues.
law clerks
- judges pick own law clerks
- each justice on supreme court has 4
- usually hired straight out of law school
4 major things/functions clerks do for judges
- reads debriefs and selects/ recommends cases to give full treatment
- if oral argument prepare bench memorandum(contains questions judges can ask)
- research points of law
- when appellate court judge is writing an opinion the law clerk writes draft until judge write the final draft
staff law clerk
for the COURT
- not specifically for a judge
- helps reading briefs and research points of law
- typically lawyers
- serve 1-2 years
discretionary jurisdiction
second level appellate courts have discretionary jurisdiction
-can deny/ choose its cases
