How can you best persuade an appellate court to decide a case in your favor? This book is packed with useful examples and clever ancedotes that will sharpen your presentation and argument skills for use at the state, federal and Supreme Court level.

Appellate Advocacy books can overwhelm students with a disparate mixture of appellate rules, arcane procedural requirements, multiple writing instructions, practice tips, etc. This book avoids that problem by focusing on the most important aspect of appellate advocacy: how to write a persuasive appellate brief. It sets forth very specific, well-defined rules--adapted from the recommendations of experienced appellate practitioners and judges--for students to learn and follow. Principles of Appellate Advocacy stresses three overreaching principles that students need to understand: (1) The perspective principle: putting the brief writer in the shoes of the judge; (2) The structural principle: building the brief around issues; and (3) The organizational principle: separating the thought process from the writing process. New to the Second Edition: Expanded coverage of standards of review, with explanations of the most commonly employed standards, examples from decisions using the standards and from briefs that apply them, plus exercises to assist students in recognizing the applicable standards of review. Increased emphasis on the concept of appealable error and preservation of issues. Additional exercises that require students to implement the rules for writing discussed in the text and to practice revision and editing techniques. An updated sample appellate brief that implements the book’s rules for writing a brief. A video illustrating the “dos and don’ts” of oral argument. Professors and student will benefit from these features: The direct, practical approach to teaching students how to write an appellate brief—the most important aspect of appellate advocacy. The concepts as presented are straightforward and accessible to facilitate understanding. Students will learn and then implement specific rules that appellate experts nationwide agree are essential to good appellate writing. The first edition has been proven effective by students in a very successful law school appellate program. This approach and these materials work.

The purchase of this ebook edition does not entitle you to receive access to the Connected eBook on CasebookConnect. You will need to purchase a new print book to get access to the full experience including: lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities, plus an outline tool and other helpful resources. The original process-based text for teaching students how to write a brief, A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy illuminates each step with clear, specific guidance and annotated examples of both good and bad writing that illustrate how it’s done. A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacyis the original process-based persuasive writing text. With her trademark specificity and clarity, author Mary Beth Beazley explains each step in the process of writing a legal brief, using annotated good and bad examples that illustrate how it’s done. Recognizing the needs of neophyte legal writers, the text offers formulas such as CREAC that students can use to write sound arguments, effective case descriptions, and thesis sentences. In addition, Chapter 4, “Facing the Blank Page”, offers solutions for addressing procrastination; Chapter 14 provides thorough coverage to prepare students for Moot Court Competitions, with helpful advice for communicating productively with teachers, mentors, and moot court coaches. Now a Connected eBook, A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacyoffers a host of supportive resources and materials on CasebookConnect, such as sample briefs and motions, guidance on brief writing style and citation, and reference material for court rules and related sources. New to the Sixth Edition: Updated to reflect changes in law school and practice in response to the COVID pandemic, with detailed guidance on how to participate in online oral arguments Streamlined to ensure that the text remains succinct and timely through successive editions Recall and Review self-assessment questions at the end of each chapter Professors and students will benefit from: Annotated examples of both good and bad legal writing End-of-chapter summaries and Recall and Review questions Balanced coverage of legal reasoning, rhetoric, and skills Generous fund of resources on CC, including additional sample documents, exercises, and other pedagogical materials Four-part process for writing a brief: 1) prewriting (research, analysis, outline); 2) writing (first draft); 3) revising (second draft); 4) polishing (final draft) Uses humor and interesting examples to engage and teach, for example… Uses “phrase-that-pays” instead of “key terms” to remind students to focus on the specific language in controversy when they analyze legal rules Uses "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" to explain how to make connections between the various points in their arguments.

Effective Advocacy: in General; Theme; Structure; Appellate Process: Overview, Review Standards, Record, Jurisdiction. Multi-Judge Panels; Levels of Review: State Intermediate Courts, State Courts of Last Retort, Federal Courts of Appeals, Supreme Court; Taxonomy of Cases: Importance of Classification, Procedure; Criminal, Contracts, Torts, Administrative, Statutory, Constitutional; Arguments: In General, Fact; Doctrine, Policy; Process, Institutional; The Brief: Formalities, Petitioner, Respondent, Reply Briefs, Amicus, Questions Presented, Front Matter, Point Headings, Statement of Facts, Summary of Argument, Footnotes; Oral Argument: Preparation, Formalities, Style, First Petitioner, Second Petitioner, First Respondent, Second Respondent, Rebuttal, Authority, Hot and Cold Benches, Questions, Concluding; A Way of Working: Planning the Oral Argument, Learning From Experience, Planning, Performing and Reviewing Recursively (The Brief); Integrity of Argument.