FAQs
1. Does you firm specialize in any particular area of appellate law?
Yes. We handle only appeals in civil cases. We do not handle any cases involving criminal law or family law.
2. What types of cases have you handled?
Over the years, we have handled cases in a broad spectrum of fields. These have included personal injury and tort claims, insurance issues, construction litigation, maritime cases, class actions, commercial disputes, probate issues, real estate disputes, securities laws, medical malpractice cases, defamation suits, and workers’ compensation claims.
3. When should I hire an appellate attorney?
Ideally, pre-trial. The failure to preserve error in the trial court is one of the main reasons appeals fail. We are uniquely equipped to ensure that appealable issues are properly preserved from the inception of litigation, during trial, and through post-trial motion practice. Further, one of our main goals is to prevent the opponent from having any appealable issues.
4. What services do you provide at the trial level?
There are many points during litigation when legal issues arise, and we are able to assist with all of them. In complex cases, we often participate in drafting the pleadings. It is important to articulate all available claims, defenses, and replies, and to do so in a manner that anticipates and deters challenges. We also handle or assist with summary judgment motions, motions in limine, expert witness challenges, jury instructions, and post-trial motions.
5. Why should I hire an appellate attorney?
Litigation can be very taxing on trial lawyers. It can take years to get a case to trial, and along the way the trial lawyers have to juggle the many tasks that litigation requires – generating and responding to discovery, attending hearings and depositions, lining up experts, finding witnesses, jousting with opposing counsel, making written filings, communicating with the client(s), keeping up with technology, supervising office personnel, etc., etc. It can be very helpful to hand off at least some of the tasks to appellate counsel, like the research and writing, and the handling of all purely legal issues. Due to our many years of experience, the trial support we provide can be invaluable in terms of strategizing and in terms of anticipating and preventing issues from arising. Our firm monitors all aspects of the litigation process with an eye towards error, both to prevent on our client’s side of the case, and to preserve for appeal any error interjected by an opponent. Having good appellate counsel on your team can contribute immensely to obtaining and preserving good results, and in impeding your opponent’s prospects of success at trial and on appeal.
6. What are the fees and costs for your services?
In many types of plaintiffs’ cases, we provide representation on a contingency fee basis. Institutional clients are billed hourly fees, as are the clients in most commercial cases.
7. Where do you practice?
We practice before all of the Florida state trial and appellate courts. We also practice in all of the federal district courts in Florida, and have handled cases in federal appellate courts throughout the country, including in the U.S. Supreme Court, and the First, Second, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal.
8. Do you provide free consultations about potential cases?
Yes. It is helpful both for us and for you to discuss a potential case in sufficient detail for each of us to determine whether our firm is the right fit for the case.
Russo Lima Appellate Firm, P.A. handles civil appeals in federal appellate courts nationwide and in all Florida state appellate courts.
