When most of us think of the verdict given by the courts, we assume this decision is the ultimate one. However, many people every year face unfair decisions or unfavorable results in courts of law that both they and their legal counsel believe can be disputed. When this happens, an appeal lawyer can help make things right.
What is an Appeal?
When an unfair or unfavorable verdict in rendered, a person can then appeal to a higher court to overturn, reverse or otherwise alter that decision. When this happens, the services of a qualified appeal lawyer are helpful, as they have the understanding of the legal process necessary to help their clients receive a more favorable finding by the higher or secondary court
How are Appeals Handled?
Once the verdict from the initial trial has been rendered and has been communicated to both parties involved in the case, each party has thirty days to petition the court for an appeal. The process, once started, takes about a year, on average. Although an appeal may be requested for almost any reason, there should be grounds for requesting it. Otherwise, the presiding judge may not see a reason to hear the case. Once grounds have been determined, the process moves forward with an appeal hearing being granted and placed on the court’s docket, or schedule.
Appellate court hearings can be very intense and often uncomfortable experiences for clients, so the legal representatives typically attend the actual hearing while the clients are given the option to attend or wait outside. Hearings do not involve the summoning and hearing of witnesses; rather they are simply a review of the case and a series of questions given to the legal counsel of the parties petitioning the court. An experienced appeals attorney will provide the argument a client needs to win their case, and give them a second chance at justice they desire. When this happens, the judge will immediately decide between upholding or altering the lower court’s decision, and the new verdict will be implemented from there on out. For those who have waited for their appeal to be heard, it’s the best possible outcome – and the beginning of a new life.
