Appellate Law

The Appellate Law Practice Group of Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog LLP is experienced, effective and efficient at handling all types of civil appeals. The Group has extensive experience with every stage of an appeal and with appeals in both State and Federal Court. The Group regularly handles Record on Appeal preparation, appellate motions, oral arguments and written submissions to the appellate courts. These written submissions include appellate briefs, petitions for discretionary review, writs and amicus briefs. The Group is also knowledgeable about the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure and carefully monitors changes to these Rules.

The Group is experienced in handling appeals at the North Carolina Supreme Court, the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the North Carolina Industrial Commission and the Fourth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals. The Group is also accomplished in handling oral arguments at each of these jurisdictions. Additionally, The Group is comprised of attorneys that are experienced litigators who maintain litigation practices in addition to their appellate work, so they have first hand experience with the appellate issues raised at the trial court level and the need to build a record on appeal. These appellate attorneys regularly handle hearings, discovery and trials in their litigation practices.

The attorneys who comprise the Appellate Law Practice Group have forty-five years of combined experience in the areas of appellate law and litigation. The attorneys in The Group have clerked for a total of five appellate court judges, both at the North Carolina Supreme Court and the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and are familiar with the judges, staff and procedures of the appellate courts. Many of The Group had extensive research and writing experience as early as law school, when they served as teaching assistants for the Research and Writing Programs at their respective law schools or worked on journals at their law schools.

In addition to the five experienced appellate attorneys, The Group also has a full-time appellate paralegal who worked at the North Carolina Court of Appeals for fourteen years prior to coming to Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog. She has experience in Record on Appeal preparation, appellate motion preparation and extensive knowledge of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure. Having an appellate paralegal with this much experience has allowed The Group to develop a streamlined and efficient approach for handling appeals, including a docketing system to track appellate deadlines for all of the appeals handled by the firm.

Attorneys in this area:

Meredith T. Berard

Jaye E. Bingham Section Leader

Norwood P. Blanchard, III

Kari R. Johnson