Appeals

While most of my work is in the trial courts, I am well-trained, experienced, and eager to handle your appeal.

In my first job out of law school, I served as a clerk to one of the country’s most prominent federal appeals court judges. As a young lawyer in a large Boston law firm, I wrote countless appellate briefs. Now that I am a solo practitioner, I take pride in the fact that I do not do many appeals. I usually win at trial so I have no need to take my cases upstairs.

But occasionally I do have to take an appeal. In late 2017 I lost a criminal case in New Hampshire district court. I immediately persuaded the Supreme Court to stay imposition of the sentence. I filed my briefs and, much to my surprise and delight was invited by the Court to present my oral argument in late 2018 to a packed audience at Hanover High School, as part of the Court’s “On the Road” program. The Court agreed with me and unanimously overturned the trial court’s decision, thus keeping my client out of jail. The photos on this page were taken during the hearing.

My preference, one shared by many lawyers, is to handle a case from beginning to end. This gives me greater control and responsibility: I own the case, both its successes and failures. But, often enough, a litigant, acting pro se, loses; sometimes a client is poorly served by his trial lawyer, and sometimes a trial lawyer doesn’t have the inclination to handle an appeal. In those cases, I am eager to do what I can to help: Analyze the case, study the trial-court proceedings, and map a strategy for appeal. I won’t minimize the difficulty: Your best opportunity to win is at trial. But if you don’t win there and there is a good reason to think the judge erred, give me a chance to attempt to rescue your case.