Kummer Kaempfer

Your Nevada Law Firm

Appellate Law

The Appellate Practice Group at Kummer Kaempfer provides representation and advice on a wide variety of appellate matters. In addition to offering expert representation directed at reversing an adverse judgment or protecting a favorable ruling, we can also assist trial counsel in assuring that the optimum record for potential appeals is preserved during trial court proceedings.

The members of the Appellate Practice Group have many years of experience in appellate courts, including the United States Courts of Appeal for the 9th and 10th Circuits, the Nevada Supreme Court, and other appellate courts in the western United States.

Services Offering

The members of Kummer Kaempfer's Appellate Practice Group each possess expert writing, research and analytical ability, as well as considerable experience in appellate practice in the Western United States.

Kummer Kaempfer represents a broad range of clients in diverse areas of law. Our recent appellate cases have included contractual disputes, construction defects, insurance coverage, administrative decisions, election initiatives, and civil rights.

Our expertise extends beyond the pursuit or defense of appeals from final judgments. Through our focused written advocacy practice, we help our clients to obtain, protect or attack significant pretrial rulings. For cases involving issues directly affecting our clients, but where our clients are not parties, we can provide amicus curiae briefs.

Kummer Kaempfer's Appellate Practice Group welcomes the opportunity to work for you. Please contact us to discuss your case and learn more about what how we can best serve you

Appellate Counsel Advantages

Trial attorneys who prosecute their own appeals . . . may have 'tunnel vision.' Having tried the case themselves, they become convinced of the merits of their cause. They may lose objectivity and would be well served by consulting and taking the advice of disinterested members of the bar, schooled in appellate practice.- Estate of Gilkison, 65 Cal.App.4th 1443, 1449-50 (1998).

Appellate attorneys and trial attorneys have very different goals. Trial counsel must direct their energies at factual records and examining witnesses, in hopes of persuading the fact finder. Appellate counsel, in contrast, must persuade judges regarding the legal issues. Accordingly, appellate counsel focus on analytical and legal advocacy skills, based upon mastery of substantive law, appellate procedural law, and independent analysis of the trial record. Most importantly, appellate counsel must be particularly adept at written advocacy, as the great majority of appeals are decided on the parties' briefs. These unique skills allow appellate attorneys to craft arguments to maximize the client's opportunity for success on appeal.

Appellate attorneys also provide candid and objective advice to clients on the important initial question of whether to pursue or resist an appeal. Often, counsel who did not handle the trial are in the best position to identify and raise any errors, regardless of responsibility for the errors. Because appellate counsel devote themselves to appellate work, they know the kinds of errors to seek out, and how to develop or defend against such errors for success in the appellate stages.

Related Practice Areas

• U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th and 10th Circuits
• Nevada Supreme Court
• Appellate Law

Attorneys

Lyssa S. Anderson
Tami D. Cowden
Mark E. Ferrario
Sheri Ann Forbes Murray
Lucas M. Gjovig