Our criminal appeals lawyers operate very differently from the rest of our criminal defense and criminal trial practice. The reason for that is one of necessity and will become clear in a moment. The required knowledge of criminal law is the same for every attorney practicing with us, but the procedure and strategy employed in an appeal is entirely unique. This is why we recommend hiring a criminal appeals lawyer only where that lawyer can be free of the routine day to day distractions associated with the criminal trial practice. A busy sole practitioner in the criminal defense law field would be well advised to focus her practice exclusively on either appeals from criminal convictions and the related sentence, or on criminal defense and trial practice. Mounting a criminal defense is a noisy, fast moving process where the most aggressive and focused criminal attorney can often best his prosecutorial opponent. The clock is ticking as the criminal lawyer and his client approach trial. Contact Us.
By contrast, an appellate lawyer who strives for excellence in the criminal appeals profession, needs to operate in a quiet, studious environment to carefully review, research and consider every detail that transpired throughout the criminal case. The prosecution's case needs to be considered. The defense that should have been presented as well as the defense that was presented must be carefully analyzed. The criminal court judge's rulings on evidentiary objections (and others) must all be researched to determine if the criminal court erred in any ruling. Assuming the court did make mistakes (and in a long trial, for example, judges always do) the criminal appeals attorney must then argue that the mistake affected the client's outcome. If the mistakes or omissions on the part of either criminal lawyer or the judge resulted in harmless error, the convicted defendant will be granted no relief.
As you might have gathered, researching and preparing an appeal of a conviction is an extremely tedious, time intensive process. It is akin to sifting through numerous haystacks in search of hundreds of tiny needles. Once the needles are gathered they must then be scrutinized under the microscope of legal analysis and precedent. If you or someone you know has been convicted of crime in federal court or state court, anywhere in the country, you may call us to speak to a criminal appeals defense attorney who will provide one free case analysis. Contact Us.
The attorneys of our criminal law offices practice criminal defense in Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, Long Island, Queens, Westchester, Staten Island and througout New York City and NYS. Learn more about our criminal defense lawyers in New York.
