Criminal Appeals at the Federal Level

All federal criminal defense attorneys should know and understand the specifics of criminal appeals, both to ensure their client’s appeal rights as well as to perform the appeal themselves if necessary. Recognizing what matters on a criminal appeal can strengthen and reinforce the trial defense itself. Failure to do so could constitute ineffective assistance of counsel.

This program will provide attorneys with the basic elements and procedures of preserving and prosecuting an appeal from a criminal judgment and sentence in the federal courts.

Attorneys from all levels of experience who regularly defend criminal cases in federal courts and/or plan to handle federal criminal appeals will benefit from this program.

Learning Objectives:

• Delineate the nature and purpose of federal criminal appeals
• Articulate who can and should appeal in federal criminal court
• Explore the timing of federal criminal appeals
• Evaluate the roles of different federal courts in the federal criminal appeal system
• Discover the reasons and goals of a federal criminal appeal
• Investigate the basic steps in the life of a federal criminal appeal
• Choose the issues on appeal in a federal criminal case
• Analyze possible outcomes and next steps after a federal criminal appeal