Appellate Services at DeWitt | DeWitt LLP

Whether you are defending the outcome in a trial court, or things did not go your way and you are trying to change the outcome, we have exceptional appellate advocates with a wide array of experience and appellate victories. Our appellate advocates have argued cases before state and federal courts and administrative agencies and have been involved in appellate cases before the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Courts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Oklahoma, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Seventh Circuit, Eighth Circuit, Nine Circuit, Tenth Circuit and the Federal Circuit. Our advocates also excel at appeals before administrative agencies, such as the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission (LIRC), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), Wisconsin Department of Revenue, and more. Whether we are serving as lead counsel on an appeal, acting as co-counsel, or otherwise advising our clients on how to navigate the complexities of handling an appeal, our attorneys bring knowledge, experience, and a proven track record to the table.

For example, our environmental and litigation attorneys secured a complete appellate victory for Flambeau Mining Company in a decision issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. At issue in the appeal was whether the trial court in the Western District of Wisconsin erred in determining that Flambeau Mining Company had violated the Clean Water Act (CWA). For a list of appellate victories, we encourage you to visit the individual biography page for each of our appellate practitioners, which lists their specific experience and background in appeals.

In another matter, in October of 2021, DeWitt litigators Barret Van Sicklen, Deborah Meiners, and Jordan Rohlfing successfully argued to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on behalf of their clients Lisa Taylor and Luis Cuevas that they were prejudiced by the decision of an arbitrator because he fell asleep during an evidentiary hearing. The DeWitt team convinced the Court their clients had not forfeited their objections to the arbitrator’s conduct because they had properly raised the objections before the arbitral award against them was issued. The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed and issued a unanimous decision reversing and remanding the decision of the Court of Appeals in Loren Imhoff Homebuilder, Inc. v. Taylor (2019AP002205).

A matter on appeal can occur in almost any practice area and in any jurisdiction. It is important to have an attorney that is not only experienced in appellate practice, but also in the underlying subject matter. At a firm like DeWitt, we can provide both.

Examples of the areas in which we have handled appeals or counseled our clients on appellate issues include: