Find Lawyers in Houston, Texas for Appellate Practice
Practice Area Overview
Appellate practice involves different skills and strategic considerations than trial practice. On appeal, the focus shifts from developing and proving facts (through discovery, examining witnesses, and trial) to the legal issues that decide the case. Effective appellate advocacy thus demands a formulation of the issues that is focused on what is important to a panel of appellate judges deciding the case.
In formulating the issues on appeal, an appellate lawyer conducts thorough legal research; analyzes the legal issues in light of the rule-making and policy considerations that shape the development of law; and then presents the facts and those issues and arguments selected for appeal concisely in a persuasive appellate brief.
The importance of a well-crafted appellate brief cannot be exaggerated. Appellate briefs receive greater judicial scrutiny than written materials prepared at trial because they are reviewed by a panel of judges, rather than a single judge, along with those judges’ larger legal staff, under comparatively less time pressure than exists in the trial court. As one appellate court has explained, appellate work is “most assuredly not the recycling of trial level points and authorities” but instead “entails rigorous original work in its own right” and “offers counsel probably their best opportunity to craft work of original, professional, and, on occasion, literary value.” In re Marriage of Shaban, 88 Cal. App. 4th 398, 408-10 (2001).
After the appellate briefing, oral argument is an opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the appellate judges regarding the issues in the case. To be effective, appellate oral advocacy must be keyed to the unique concerns of the appellate forum – avoiding emotional or fact-based pleas that may play well before a jury, but instead focusing on the dispositive legal issues, being sure to answer the judges’ questions.
In addition to the practice in the appellate courts, appellate lawyers play important roles in the trial courts. Appellate lawyers collaborate with trial counsel on strategic and tactical matters to raise all applicable arguments and make the appropriate trial record, identifying and preserving legal issues as they arise and crafting effective motions on substantive legal issues – before, during, and after trial.
Therefore, involving an appellate lawyer in a case as early as possible is important to ensure the best chance of success both at trial and on appeal.
Natalie Armour offers experience in trial and appellate matters involving mass torts, pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, and other types of products liability claims, personal injury matters and business litigation. A key member of the Issues and Appeals Section of The Lanier Law Firm in Houston, Ms. Armour has briefed appellate matters before the Texas Supreme Court, Texas Courts of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, Eighth Circuit, and Court of Appeals for the Eastern District of Missouri. ...
Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Jessica Barger has experience in both trial and appellate matters. In private practice, she has assisted in or handled all phases of litigation for a wide variety of clients involved in insurance defense and coverage, products liability, premises liability, personal injury, and commercial lawsuits in state and federal court. While at the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, she researched legal and factual issues, made...
Stephen Barrick began his career more than 20 years ago as a law clerk in Houston, Texas, where he worked at the federal district court. He later joined international firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he practiced trial and appellate law. Since 2008, Mr. Barrick has made his home at Hick Thomas LLP, where he focuses on business litigation and appeals. Mr. Barrick is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He has earned selection to Texas...
Harvey Brown joined The Lanier Law Firm in 2019 following distinguished service as a District Judge in Harris County and as a Justice on the First Court of Appeals for the State of Texas. Judge Brown is selected to the list of Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Appellate Law and Commercial Litigation. Before his judicial service he was in private practice for more than 20 years, handling both trials and appeals. Judge Brown served on the First Court of Appeals bench from 2010-2018. Durin...
M. Michelle Carreras is a key member of the Issues and Appeals section of The Lanier Law Firm, handling complex appeals, briefings and research for trial. She has worked on a wide variety of cases, including mass tort, products liability, personal injury, business litigation and sports law litigation. She was a key member of the firm’s Pinnacle bellwether trial team that won a $1 billion combined jury verdict and a $502 million jury verdict in 2016. Those victories were recently ranked ...
Laura Dale is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Her practice is concentrated in the area of family law involving high conflict divorce, high net worth property division, both domestic and foreign, property valuation, custody cases, international child abduction brought under The Hague Convention and complex multi-jurisdictional family law disputes. Ms. Dale is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and a USA Delegate on the Board of Gov...
Kevin Dubose has a BA in English from Rice University, and a JD from the University of Texas Law School. He began his career in a small litigation firm, primarily doing insurance defense work, and tried about 25 jury trial in his first 6 years of practice. He began specializing in appellate advocacy in 1985, first in a solo practice, then as the appellate specialist for a prominent plaintiff's personal injury practice. Since 1994 he has practiced in an appellate boutique environment. Kevin ha...
Robert Dubose graduated from Rice University magna cum laude in 1990 and Harvard Law School cum laude in 1993. He is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Civil Appellate Law. He is a past-chair of the Appellate Section of the Houston Bar Association. Robert handles appeals, with particular emphasis on insurance coverage, corporate governance, and commercial and contract disputes. He also works with clients and other lawyers on legal strategy before and during trial, f...
Wanda Fowler was a Justice on the Fourteenth Court of Appeals for almost 14 years before joining Wright Close & Barger, LLP as a partner. While on the Court she authored approximately 1900 opinions and decided approximately 3,800 more cases. In 2001, the other members of the Court elected her Acting Chief Justice for five months pending an appointment of a new chief justice and, in 2003, the Houston Chapter of the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists voted her Appell...
David Gunn specializes in appeals. For the past two decades, he has done nothing but handle appeals, in both state and federal court, and on both sides of the docket. Although appeals once revolved around attorney oratory, today’s appellate courts do most of their work on the basis of written briefs, and a typical appellate judge has to read hundreds of those briefs every year. So David writes briefs that the reader will find both interesting and easy to follow. Since arguing his first ...
Eva Guzman is a groundbreaking figure, with an impressive history both as a litigator and as a judge. She began her legal career in Houston, managing a successful civil law practice for a decade before accepting gubernatorial appointments, first to the Harris County District Court bench in 1999 and then, in 2001, to the Texas 14th Court of Appeals, where she served for eight years, hearing both civil and criminal cases. In 2009, she accepted a third gubernatorial appointment, becoming the fir...
Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law, Russ Hollenbeck has extensive experience in both trial and appellate matters. In private practice, he has assisted in or handled all phases of litigation for a wide variety of clients involved in products liability, premises liability, personal injury, and commercial lawsuits in state and federal court. He has appeared and handled appeals before the various Texas courts of appeals, Texas Supreme Court, and the Fifth and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals...
Steve Knight is a Shareholder in the Houston Litigation group and Practice Chair of the firm’s Appellate Law section. Throughout his career, Mr. Knight has successfully represented clients at every phase of the appellate process, from handling critical phases of the trial to assure error preservation, through briefing and arguing appellate cases in the Texas Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and intermediate appellate courts throughout the state. Mr. Knight has prepared...
Manuel López is a partner with Roach Newton, where his primary area of practice is appellate and commercial litigation. Manuel joined Roach & Newton in 2014. He has developed a constitutional practice to defend fundamental rights of businesses in discovery and trial. Manuel is a seasoned civil defense lawyer with over 21 years of experience. Manuel has an extraordinary ability to identify winning legal arguments and strategies. He has a proven history of superior results in appeals...
Justice David Medina serves as a shareholder in Chamberlain Hrdlicka's commercial litigation section in both our Houston and San Antonio offices. Justice Medina received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from South Texas College of Law Houston in 1989 while working full time for Cooper Industries, Inc. and the Traveler's Insurance Company before that. He was a member of the ABA National Moot Court Team. Justice Medina also earned academic recognition as a member of the Dean's List. After gra...
Raffi Melkonian has extensive experience nationwide in both trial and appellate matters, briefing and arguing dozens of appeals in federal and state courts of appeals around the United States. Additionally, Mr. Melkonian maintains an active practice in the United States Supreme Court, which includes both merits and amicus briefs. In 2019, he briefed and argued Fort Bend v. Davis, where his client prevailed in a 9-0 decision written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Firm later successfully r...
Eileen is a former state trial judge who tries and appeals cases in state and federal courts for both plaintiffs and defendants. She brings a unique perspective to litigation problem-solving, having served during her career as an advocate, judge, arbitrator and mediator. Eileen also has the benefit of having sustained both substantial trial and appellate practices for 30 years. As a result, she not only knows how to try a case to win, but does so with an informed view of how to keep (or rever...
Jack O'Neill has been trying large complex cases for over 45 years. His experience in the courtroom involves many cases that have been widely publicized. Mr. O’Neill was co-trial counsel for UPR, Inc. in its attempted takeover of Pennzoil. He was lead counsel for Mitchell Energy Corporation in the company’s effort to overturn a $204 million judgment rendered against the company in a case tried for the company by another law firm. On appeal, argued by Mr. O’Neill, the case wa...
Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Kevin P. Parker is the head of the Issues and Appeals Section of The Lanier Law Firm. His pre-trial work insures that client cases will stand the test of an appeal. Mr. Parker is an accomplished lawyer, having personally handled more than 20 cases at the appeals court level. He was a key member of the firm’s Pinnacle bellwether trial team that won a $1 billion combined jury verdict and a $502 million jury...
Russell Post is a board-certified appellate specialist. For the last 18 years, following his clerkship with the Hon. Jerry Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, he has dedicated his practice to civil appeals. He has acted as lead counsel in approximately 100 appeals and has participated in countless others, preparing briefs and presenting oral arguments to the Texas Supreme Court, the Texas appellate courts, and the Fifth Circuit. Russell represents both plaintiff...
Robert M. (Randy) Roach, Jr. is the founding partner of Roach Newton, L.L.P., a Texas litigation and appellate boutique law firm, with offices in Houston, Austin, and Beaumont. Randy's 30 years of practice have focused on a unique combination of appeals, insurance coverage disputes, and a wide array of complex litigation. While having previously handled complex coverage disputes across the country for insurers as well as insureds, for the last 18 years, Randy has only represented policyholder...
AZA partner Jane Langdell Robinson’s practice emphasizes appeals and high-stakes motions. Ms. Robinson has handled a wide variety of civil appellate matters, including mandamus proceedings, interlocutory appeals, and appeals of final judgments up to the Texas and United States Supreme Courts. Ms. Robinson frequently becomes involved in complex civil matters at the earliest stages to assist with the most challenging issues of legal analysis and strategy as well as error preservation, tri...
Joe Roden grew up in Liberty, Texas and attended the University of Texas as an undergraduate, where he graduated in 1988. He then went into the U.S. Marine Corps. Joe attained the rank of 1st Lieutenant and was a decorated officer in the Marine Corps during Desert Storm, the first Gulf War. After leaving the Marine Corps, he graduated from the University of Houston Law Center with honors and then clerked for Justice Murry Cohen on the First Court of Appeals. After clerking for the Court of Ap...
Bradley Snead is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. As a Texas civil appeals attorney, he has handled all types of appellate matters, including interlocutory appeals and petitions for writ of mandamus, in the intermediate state appellate courts and the Texas Supreme Court. Additionally, Mr. Snead has significant experience in state trial courts, from handling pre-trial motion practice to the jury charge. His practice primarily involves large com...
Kent has served as a justice on the Texas Court of Appeals, a judge for the 80th District Court in Harris County, Texas, and as First Assistant Attorney General, the second-highest-ranking official of the Texas Office of the Attorney General. In 2017, he was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to serve as the Texas Commissioner of Insurance, the state’s top insurance regulatory position, responsible for the policies, operations, and enforcement activities of the Texas Department of Insura...
Roger Townsend handles appellate matters in appellate courts throughout the United States and assists trial lawyers with legal issues. He also manages complex civil litigation. With 36 years of experience, he has learned to handle matters effectively and efficiently, always putting the client's goals first. Roger’s diverse, national practice includes virtually every type of civil appeal, ranging from antitrust to zoning and all subjects in between. He is a noted expert in energy, oil an...
Tom Wright is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law and Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest level of peer rated professional excellence. He has argued cases in the Texas Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Ninth Circuits, and most of the fourteen intermediate appellate courts in Texas. Tom has extensive trial and appellate experience in business cases, including oil and gas,...
Eric focuses his practice on appeals and civil litigation. He has represented a wide variety of clients across varying industries and has experience in commercial disputes, securities litigation, and intellectual property litigation, among other areas. In 2021, Eric served as counsel of record for a group of former United States Attorneys filing an amicus brief in support of the United States in the United States Supreme Court case United States v. Cooley , a case concerning the scope of Nati...
Brittany’s practice focuses on civil litigation and appeals. Prior to joining Wright Close & Barger, Brittany completed the Gregory Coleman Fellowship at the Texas Solicitor General’s Office. During her fellowship, Brittany represented governmental clients on diverse issues of state and federal law. In addition to assisting her colleagues on several appeals, Brittany served as lead counsel in two cases before the Third Court of Appeals and the Eighth Court of Appeals, and pres...
Lisa Wright is an experienced attorney whose practice includes both civil litigation and appeals. She has handled cases involving serious personal injury, wrongful death, premises liability, business torts, contract disputes, insurance coverage litigation, probate matters, and other commercial disputes. She has also worked on several criminal cases. Prior to practicing law, Lisa served for seven years as an officer with the Houston Police Department. As a patrol officer and then homicide inve...
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