Free Assistance from Experienced Appellate Lawyers Is Available to
Legal Services Organizations Handling Civil Appeals and Appellate Writs

While legal services attorneys become experts in their areas of focus, they often do not have an opportunity to develop expertise in handling civil appeals and appellate writs. As a result, an appeal in one of their cases may result in a significant drain on their time and resources as they research the unfamiliar practices and procedures
of the appellate court.

We can help. Each of us has extensive experience with civil appeals and works at a legal services organization in Los Angeles. Richard (Dick) Rothschild, the Director of Litigation at the Western Center on Law and Poverty, is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, chair of the Amicus Briefs Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the 2008 recipient of the State Bar's Loren Miller Legal Services Award. See http://www.wclp.org/aboutwclp/advocatesandattorneys.php. Lisa Jaskol, the Directing Attorney of the Appellate Law Program at Public Counsel, is a former partner at the appellate law firm Horvitz & Levy LLP and a State Bar Certified Appellate Specialist. Wendy Marantz Levine, Deputy Director of Litigation at Bet Tzedek Legal Services, previously worked as an appellate lawyer at Irell & Manella LLP and served as a Clinical Teaching Fellow in the Appellate Litigation Clinic at Georgetown University. http://www.bettzedek.org/btstaff.html

We are available to consult with legal services lawyers on appeals and writs in the California and federal appellate courts, ranging from the Superior Court, Appellate Division to the United States Supreme Court. We can provide as much or as little help as you need -- a brief telephone consultation, reviewing and commenting on briefs, participation in moot courts, and, in appropriate cases, co-counseling if that is what you would like. We will be happy to work with you on procedural and substantive issues, issue selection, strategy, amicus briefing, and other issues that may arise during the appeal.

In fact, you shouldn’t wait until a notice of appeal is filed to start thinking about how your case might play out in the appellate courts. While the case is in the trial court, start asking yourself, “how do I preserve the record?” (for the appellate court, if it’s not in the record, it does not exist); “how do I preserve issues for appeal?”;
“is that order the trial court issued appealable?”; “should I file a writ?” Appellate procedure is not rocket science, but it does have its own logic and rules, both formal and informal. We can help you decipher them.

Feel free to contact any of us at the following numbers or via email:
Lisa Jaskol: 213-637-3851, ljaskol@publiccounsel.org
Wendy Marantz Levine:323-549-5839, wlevine@bettzedek.org
Dick Rothschild: 213-235-2624, rrothschild@wclp.org