Severson’s Appellate Group has decades of experience prosecuting and defending appeals and extraordinary writ proceedings in state and federal appellate courts from the United States Supreme Court down to superior courts’ appellate departments. While most of our writs and appeals are in California state and federal courts, we regularly handle appeals in various jurisdictions across the country. Our attorneys (former law clerks, certified appellate specialists, and a former president of the California Academy of Appellate Attorneys) have handled high-stakes writs and appeals in countless substantive areas including financial services, construction, insurance, real estate, bankruptcy, class actions, preemption, arbitration, civil procedure, employment, securities, discrimination, and antitrust.
In addition to the group’s traditional appellate practice, Severson’s appellate group also regularly prepares amicus briefs and requests for publication (or depublication) for industry groups and others, when pending appeals affect their interests.
The group also cooperates with trial counsel in providing advice on placing the case in the best position for a potential appeal and in preparing law-intensive pretrial motions, such as summary judgment motions, as well as in preparing trial motions, jury instructions, special verdict forms, and in filing or opposing motions to vacate a judgment and for a new trial, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and judgment as a matter of law.