Appeals are not a second chance for the losing party to bring new evidence or re-try the case. Appeals are a chance for the losing party to correct a legal error made by the trial judge. Legal errors can occur when the trial judge applies the wrong law, ignores the evidence, or allows a party to violate the rules. Trial judges make lots of decisions throughout a case, and they do make errors.

For the Appellant to obtain a reversal, the Appellant’s lawyer must do the following: (1) timely and properly invoke the appellate court’s jurisdiction; (2) analyze the record of what happened in the trial court for potential legal errors; (3) determine what law applies to each potential error; (4) determine what standard of review applies to each potential error; (5) make crucial judgment calls on which potential errors to pursue and which to abandon; (6) then, put it all together in a persuasive “Initial Brief”.

At MGS we have experience with the appeals process including:

• The Initial Brief

• The Answer Brief

• The Reply Brief

• Oral Argument

The bottom line is the justice system is made and operated by human judges, and errors happen in the trial courts. The appellate process is the part of our justice system that presents the losing party with the chance to have other judges review what the trial judge did and reverse the outcome if it was based on a legal error.

We at Miller, George & Suggs understand the appellate process and provide our clients with smart, effective representation in all of Florida’s intermediate courts of appeal and the Florida Supreme Court.