Appellate Division

All cases begin in a trial court, and at some point the case will end in the trial court. The trial judge could dismiss the case on the pleadings early in the litigation or dismiss it after a summary judgment motion well into the litigation. The case could be tried before the judge or a jury and a final judgment could be entered after a full trial. And the trial judge can sometimes enter a judgment that is different than the jury's verdict. But at some point, the proceedings in the trial court will end. And at that point, a party unhappy with the outcome — typically the losing side, but sometimes even the winning side — can appeal. 

An appeal typically begins with filing a notice of appeal in the trial court. The party appealing -- known as the "appellant" — must also designate an appellate record. The appellate record consists of materials from the trial court that the appellant would like to present to the appellate court and use on appeal.

In a typical appeal, the parties will file a total of three briefs with the court - an opening brief, a responsive brief and a reply brief. 

An appeal is not a new trial. Appellate courts do not retry cases or hear new evidence. In most cases, appellate courts will not even hear new legal arguments. Instead, appellate courts review what occurred in the trial court to see if the proper procedures were followed and the proper law was applied. Because of the limited nature of this review, the matters properly raised on appeal can be significantly different from those that are raised at trial.

The appellate panel will usually issue a written opinion explaining why it reached the decision that it did. Like the time between briefing and oral argument, the time between oral argument and the written decision varies considerably between different courts.  If the appellate court deems it appropriate, the written opinion will be published in the official reports and will be binding authority for litigants in the future.