Attorney Authored
An Appellate Lawyer's Role in a Trial
May 28, 2013
BY STEPHEN B. KINNAIRD, SEAN D. UNGER, & DANIELLE C. DOREMUS
To a room full of teenagers, every lawyer is Perry Mason. Lawyers know different. In a world of increased specialization, there are many different ways to practice law. There is "big" law and "small" law. There are employment lawyers and environmental lawyers. There are lawyers who specialize in a regulatory practice, lawyers who only negotiate deals, and lawyers who only negotiate one part of a deal. There are "outside" counsel and "inside" counsel. There are even "outside-inside" counsel, which by name alone, would make Dr. Seuss proud.
The reality is that within the legal world, different lawyers do vastly different things. This article will focus on just one of those differences and for a limited context: the role of an appellate lawyer in a civil trial in federal court. The point is to suggest that for clients and trial lawyers alike, including an appellate lawyer on your trial team can be of substantial value.
