Clients trust our appellate lawyers to take the lead on their most important legal challenges, especially those with novel legal issues. We are often retained as appellate counsel in cases handled by other lawyers in the trial court. In addition, industry stakeholders frequently engage us to file amicus briefs in cases of great importance.
Our appellate lawyers have litigated hundreds of significant appellate matters, including cases before the US Supreme Court. We have a thorough understanding of the appellate process and what it takes to achieve results on appeal. Many of the firm’s lawyers began their careers with appellate clerkships, including clerkships on the Third Circuit, Fourth Circuit, Sixth Circuit, and the North Carolina Supreme Court.
The members of our appellate team are leaders within the appellate bar. Eddie Speas, a former Chief Deputy Attorney General, has handled direct appeals and certiorari matters before the U.S. Supreme Court, including several closely watched cases involving voting rights and redistricting. Drew Erteschik is a board-certified appellate specialist and the incoming chair of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Appellate Rules Committee, which makes recommendations to the North Carolina Supreme Court on issues of appellate procedure.
A few of our appellate team’s recent matters include:
- Persuading the Fourth Circuit to hold that the economic-loss doctrine barred a $19 million lawsuit against our client for its alleged role in a commercial fire
- Successfully arguing to the Fourth Circuit that an $11 million class-action lawsuit against our client was correctly dismissed because it impermissibly relied on ethics rules governing lawyers
- Persuading the North Carolina Supreme Court to affirm the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging fraud and breach of contract in our developer client’s sale of over $15 million in real estate
- Obtaining a unanimous decision from the North Carolina Supreme Court that North Carolina does not recognize a civil claim for negligent storage of a firearm
- In a case now pending on the merits, successfully petitioning the US Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari in a case involving the due-process limits of taxing jurisdiction
- Successfully arguing that North Carolina’s courts should recognize, for the first time, that the doctrine of “equal fault” is a defense to a legal malpractice claim
- Successfully arguing to the North Carolina Supreme Court that the First Amendment barred a lawsuit between a church pastor and a minority of the church’s congregation because it involved matters of religious doctrine
- In a case of first impression under the Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act, successfully defending a Scottish Courts’ award of attorneys’ fees on appeal in a lawsuit contending that the Scottish “loser pays” system was contrary to public policy
- Persuading the North Carolina Supreme Court that a trial court properly set aside a large punitive damages award against our client in a lawsuit for malicious prosecution
For more information about this practice and experience that might be relevant to your needs, please contact one of the related professionals on this page.
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