A different practice from trial work
Civil appeals are not a continuation of the trial. Instead, they’re a separate discipline with their own rules, deadlines, and standards of review. The trial record is closed. New evidence is off the table. What’s left is a focused argument, on paper (and sometimes in an oral argument), about whether the trial court got the law right.
Resurgens Legal Counsel handles civil appeals to the Court of Appeals of Georgia and the Supreme Court of Georgia. We take cases we tried below and cases we did not, including matters where prior counsel asks us to step in for the appellate phase only.
Where appeals come from
Civil appeals can flow from a wide range of trial-court outcomes, including:
- Final judgments after a bench or jury trial
- Grants or denials of summary judgment
- Orders compelling or refusing arbitration
- Rulings on motions to dismiss that dispose of the case
- Injunctions, receivership orders, and other equitable relief
- Discovery sanctions that effectively decide the merits
- Rulings on attorney’s fees, costs, and post-judgment motions
Not every adverse ruling is appealable as of right. Some require a discretionary application under O.C.G.A. § 5‑6‑35. Others require an interlocutory application with a certificate of immediate review under O.C.G.A. § 5‑6‑34(b). Picking the wrong vehicle, or missing the 30-day clock, can end an otherwise strong appeal before the merits are ever briefed. We start every appellate engagement by mapping the right path.
What we do
Direct appeals. Notice of appeal, designation of the record, enumerations of error, principal brief, reply brief, and oral argument when it serves the case.
Discretionary and interlocutory applications. The threshold filings that decide whether the appellate court will even hear you. These are short, dense, and consequential, and they’re often where the case is actually won or lost.
Post-trial motions and preservation. New trial, JNOV, motions to alter or amend, motions for reconsideration. Many appellate issues are either raised or resolved at this stage. We’re often retained between judgment and the notice of appeal to ensure the record is in shape for review.
Stays and supersedeas. Pausing enforcement of a judgment while the appeal is pending, including supersedeas bonds and emergency stays.
Appellate consulting and second-chair work. Strategic input for trial counsel preparing for likely appeal: jury charge review, evidentiary objections framed for preservation, and dispositive-motion briefing built to survive de novo review.
Cross-appeals and appellee work. Defending favorable judgments. The appellee’s job is different and underestimated. A clean, disciplined appellee brief often closes the case.
How we approach an appeal
Appeals reward editing, not volume. Our briefs are built around a handful of issues that can actually move the panel, not a kitchen-sink list of every objection from below. We read the record before we draft a single sentence of argument, and we write to be read by judges and clerks who have a stack of cases on their desk and limited patience for lawyers who waste their time.
The standard of review drives everything. De novo, abuse of discretion, clearly erroneous, sufficiency of the evidence: each one tells you what an appellate court can and cannot do with the trial record. We frame each issue around the standard that gives our client the best path, and we don’t pretend a deferential standard is something it isn’t.
When to call an Atlanta Civil Appeals Attorney
The earlier the better, but never later than 30 days from entry of the final judgment in Georgia state court. Some orders trigger shorter clocks for applications and certificates. If you’re unsure where you stand, the consultation is the cheapest move you’ll make on the case.
