Practice Strengths

The Appellate team's objective is to provide specific appellate capabilities, coupled with a fresh perspective and the critical judgment necessary in appellate counsel, to afford our clients the best appellate representation possible. We offer specific appellate-related services to clients and to fellow lawyers, including:

• Analyzing trial records for appellate issues;
• Drafting and reviewing appellate briefs;
• Staging moot courts in preparation for oral argument; and
• Presenting oral arguments

While our principal responsibility is representing our clients in federal and state appellate courts, we also work, where appropriate, with the trial team to identify potential appellate challenges from the initial stages of litigation. We are called upon to brief complex issues at the trial court level and to strategically analyze trial issues to protect the record on appeal or to preserve issues for appeal.
The breadth and depth of experience of our appellate counsel bring to our clients not only the substantive knowledge of our partners, but also the analytical and written and oral advocacy skills that are the hallmarks of appellate lawyers.

Our approach to appellate advocacy reflects our understanding of the importance of persuasive writing and thinking in an age when court dockets are overflowing and judges have little time to devote to cases. We sift through the trial court record, selecting and presenting the strongest arguments possible on appeal in a compelling, clear manner.

Whether at the trial or appellate stage, Baker Hostetler lawyers are well prepared to help clients by developing a strategic approach to complex legal issues.

We are among the nation's top appellate law firms.

Leadership in Action

Appellate Litigation: Securing reversal of a $2.5 million federal jury verdict

Client: Global, business web hosting company

Type of Matter: Federal court appeal

Our Client's Challenge: To reverse the federal jury verdict awarding $2.5 million to a former employee for a large number of stock options not vested upon the employee’s termination.

The Goal:

Our Strategy: Demonstrate the stock option agreement was unambiguous and that no vesting should have occurred.

Results: The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the jury verdict and rendered judgment for the client. In doing so, the Fifth Circuit held that the stock option agreement was unambiguous, and even went so far as to characterize one of plaintiff’s interpretations of the agreement as “obviously a post-hoc invention of [the] lawyers.”

Appellate Litigation Experience

• Represented a minority broadcaster before the Supreme Court when the Court upheld a Federal Communications Commission affirmative action program against constitutional attack.
• Briefed and argued in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit an antitrust case involving physician hospital staff privileges.
• Briefed and argued in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit an antitrust case involving nationwide automobile insurance glass replacement programs.
• Briefed and argued in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit an antitrust case involving claims of price discrimination in aftermarket auto parts.
• Briefed and argued in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit an antitrust case involving nationwide claims of price-fixing on travel agent commissions against major domestic and foreign airlines.
• Represented one of the largest national auto insurance companies in defense of an appeal of the denial of class certification in an action challenging specification of non-OEM body parts in covered repairs. Denial of class action affirmed on appeal.
• Represented an insurance company in defense of an appeal of the denial of class certification in action seeking payment of interest on settlements. Denial of class action affirmed on appeal.
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in defense of an appeal of jury verdict and denial of relief from judgment in a vaccine product liability case. Judgment reversed and case remanded for a new trial.
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in defense of an appeal of summary judgment in a vaccine product liability case. Summary judgment affirmed on appeal.
• Represented a newspaper in mandamus action under the Public Records Act before the Ohio Supreme Court.
• Briefed and argued in the Florida Supreme Court a case involving an election ballot challenge based on the “single subject rule.”
• Briefed and argued before the Unemployment Appeals Commission and the Fifth District Court of Appeal of Florida an unemployment compensation case involving reasonable employer standards that ultimately involved jurisdictional briefing to the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.

About Baker Hostetler's Litigation Team

When the stakes are bet-the-company monetary damages, potential criminal sentences and intense scrutiny in the court of public opinion, the 200-plus litigators of Baker Hostetler are a team to depend on. We have the kind of credentials you expect from a leading national litigation firm and a client base we have protected in and out of court for decades.

What really sets us apart is our practical experience as trial lawyers. The Baker Hostetler team includes former top prosecutors of the U.S. Justice Department (four of whom received the Attorney General's Distinguished Services Award), former prosecutors for major municipalities, veteran civil trial attorneys and enforcement officials from various federal agencies, from the Department of Energy to the SEC and NASD (now FINRA).