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While ZKAC always stands ready to try cases to verdict, it is also prepared to defend those verdicts on appeal, and to prosecute and defend difficult and complex appeals for other law firms and clients. ZKAC's Appellate Practice Group is well versed in the strategies and rules of practice in appeals before the Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan Court of Appeals, and the Federal Circuit Courts in those other jurisdictions in which our attorneys are licensed to practice. Whether it is pursuing an appeal all the way to a favorable decision in the state's highest court or getting the appellate courts to summarily reverse or affirm cases in our clients' favor, ZKAC's Appellate Practice Group is resourceful and intellectually capable of dissecting a case and reaching efficient and favorable results.
Trial attorneys who prosecute or defend their own appeals may have "tunnel vision" and may have become so "convinced by the merits of their cause" that they "lose objectivity"; hence, they are "well served by consulting and taking the advice of disinterested members of the bar, schooled in appellate practice." Estate of Gilkinson, 65 Cal. App. 4th 1443, 1449-50 (Cal. App. 1998).
Our Appellate Practice Group is frequently retained to prosecute or defend appeals for matters that were handled by other law firms and the legal departments of our governmental and private-sector clients. We have successfully prosecuted appeals in the Michigan Supreme Court where initial appeals have been unsuccessful. As a result, our clients and other law firms recognize our expertise and turn to us when they have been unable to succeed on their own.
"Appellate work is most assuredly not the recycling of trial level points and authorities." In re Marriage of Shaban, 88 Cal. App. 4th 398, 408, 410 (2001). Such work requires "rigorous original work in its own right." Id.
An appeal is more than simply reviewing the trial court record and writing a brief. An appeal requires in-depth analysis of jurisprudence, creative thinking, persuasive writing and skillful oral presentation to address overarching legal issues and public policy concerns. Our appellate attorneys are adept at ferreting out the subtle legal issues that pique the appellate courts' interest, writing briefs that hone in and dictate the theme of our clients' cause, and ultimately convincing the courts to change or clarify the law. As a result, we view the law as fluid, not set in stone. Sometimes the law prevents a client from succeeding at the trial court level. If so, we evaluate whether we can change or clarify the law in our clients' favor, and in many instances, we have.
At ZKAC, we pride ourselves on our ability to convince appellate panels to go beyond a simple reading of the case law. In doing so, we have a track record of having appellate courts overturn years of established precedent. In several matters that ZKAC has handled before the Michigan Supreme Court we convinced the Court to overturn decades of countless Michigan Court of Appeals opinions. Our clients not only won their cases, but the decisions handed down by the appellate court have established new legal precedent saving millions of future dollars for our clients and those others who are similarly situated.
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