Can You Hire Any Attorney Do an Appeal?

Technically, if an attorney is licensed to practice law in a specific state or jurisdiction, they can most likely file an appeal in the Courts of Appeal within that jurisdiction. But that is a different issue than whether one can do an appeal right.

 Appellate practice is a specialized area of law. The skills and training required to be a successful appellate attorney are different from someone who focuses on trial litigation or transactional law.

 There are no juries to persuade in an appeal. The focus is on legal arguments, not emotional or factual issues. Arguments must be well-researched and persuasive writing skills are key to any appellate litigator’s job. The goal is to convince other lawyers (judges) who are versed in the law that a legal error was made in the trial court and that error fundamentally changed the outcome of a case.

 Thus, while most attorneys “can” do an appeal, only a select few trained in appellate practice “should” do appeals.

 At the Ikerd Law Firm, we are trained and have the experience of filing nearly 200 appeals and writs in appellate courts throughout Louisiana. Contact us today for a free consultation if you need appellate representation.

Experience Matters

 Chad Ikerd has handled nearly 200 appeals and supervisory writs in the Louisiana Courts of Appeal and Louisiana Supreme Court. 

Many of them originated out of Lafayette, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Shreveport, and all the surrounding parishes. The Ikerd Law Firm has extensive experience researching and drafting appellate briefs on behalf of those convicted of crimes.

Chad Ikerd has been a contract attorney with the Louisiana Appellate Project (LAP) since 2015. As part of that contract, he represents clients who cannot afford an attorney to represent them in the intermediate Courts of Appeal in Louisiana. This opportunity has provided Chad Ikerd with the experience of handling all types of cases, including homicides, sex crimes, gun charges, property crimes, and one of the most complex cold-case litigations in the country.

Chad Ikerd has also litigated several cases in the Louisiana Supreme Court, winning each one. In 2013, Chad Ikerd litigated the repeal of the “driving while Hispanic” law in Louisiana, which made it illegal for an immigrant alien to drive in the state without immigration documentation. Chad Ikerd was less than one year out of law school when he began challenging the law, which culminated in the Louisiana Supreme Court striking down La. R.S. 14:100.13 for being preempted by Federal Law.

Since then, Chad has also successfully argued two other cases in the Louisiana Supreme Court, including State v. David Bourg, which reaffirmed the trial court’s authority to grant a new trial, and State v. Elizabeth Trahan, which reversed the wrongful conviction for vehicular homicide where the State failed to sufficiently prove the defendant was under the influence and that caused the wreck.

He has also successfully filed and won a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. The case, Corlious C. Dyson v. Louisiana, vacated the conviction and sentence because there was a non-unanimous jury verdict at the first trial. The High Court remanded the vacated sentence to the Third Circuit of Louisiana “for further consideration in light of Ramos v. Louisiana” which found the Sixth Amendment right to an unanimous jury verdicts was incorporated to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment.