Obermayer Launches Dedicated Statewide Appellate Practice Group
Obermayer was recently featured in Law360 Pulse for the launch of the firm’s dedicated appellate practice group, which offers a tiered suite of services designed to support clients at every stage of the appeals process, including advising litigation teams from the outset to help preserve issues for appeal.
Managing Partner and Appellate Practice Chair Mathieu Shapiro shared that the launch formalizes years of appellate work within the firm’s litigation department.
“The practice has been working behind the scenes for quite a bit of time,” Shapiro said. “We formed the practice so that clients and other lawyers know what we are doing more formally.”
The article also highlighted the firm’s appellate team, including associates Catherine Plante and Melissa Blanco, both former Pennsylvania Supreme Court clerks. Reflecting on her clerkship experience, Blanco said, “Clerking at the Supreme Court made me so much more aware of issues I would not have even considered without that experience. I am constantly looking at the standards of review and looking at how to frame issues to ensure the appellate court will care.”
The new practice offers a range of appellate services, from procedural guidance and strategy consulting to full appellate representation and pretrial support.
“Our services can be as basic as advising on the next procedural steps after a bad decision to one of the more expansive tiers where we become part of the trial team,” Blanco said. “An attorney can overlook things that can be brought to appeal, and our department will preserve those issues. We make it clear to the court why the justices should care about the issue on a statewide level.”
Read the full article here.
