Stuart Bruce Esner
Esner, Chang & Ellis is a boutique appellate firm with offices in Southern and Northern California. The firm - founded in 1990 - handles all aspects of appellate and writ practice in all California and federal appellate courts. In addition, its attorneys consult with trial lawyers at every stage of litigation, preparing substantive briefing and helping establish the best record for potential appeal and, even more fundamentally, helping those attorneys win in the trial court in the first instance.
Each of Esner, Chang & Ellis's three partners is certified as an appellate specialist by the California State Bar's Board of Legal Specialization, and each has more than 20 years experience practicing appellate law exclusively. The firm has a well-earned reputation among trial lawyers and the clients it represents as having successfully litigated a wide range of appeals in civil, criminal, and family law matters. As its clients attest, the firm produces high-quality work product while at the same time providing the sort of personal commitment and client attention that only a small firm can offer.
Why hire an appellate firm?
Appellate litigation is a specialized area of legal practice. It is not merely a continuation of trial court proceedings. As a result, the skills and knowledge necessary to prepare briefing which will persuade an appellate court are quite specific. For example, appellate proceedings rely almost exclusively on written briefs, which will be read and analyzed by at least three appellate justices with more time and more research attorneys than a superior court judge generally has available, and according to standards and presumptions quite different than those applied in the trial court. In addition, given the nature of appellate review and the potential for reevaluation of prior precedent, appellate counsel must be cognizant as to how a legal result he or she advocates in a particular case would fit into - or possibly change - a given area of law. (See, e.g., In re Marriage of Shaban (2001) 88 Cal.App.4th 398, 408-410.)
Besides being accomplished writers, appellate attorneys must also possess a savvy, based on experience and familiarity with appellate court practice, as to what rulings warrant appellate review as being both erroneous and prejudicial and which ones do not. This is a valuable skill whether the attorney is representing an appellant or a respondent. As Justice David G. Sills, Presiding Justice of Division Three of California's Fourth Appellate District wrote in the Shaban decision cited above, because the orientation in appellate courts is on whether the trial court committed a prejudicial error of law, the appellate practitioner is on occasion likely to stumble into areas implicating some of the great ideas of jurisprudence, with the concomitant need for additional research and analysis that takes a broader view of the relevant legal authorities. . . .[para]
The upshot of these considerations is that appellate practice entails rigorous original work in its own right. The appellate practitioner who takes trial level points and authorities and, without reconsideration or additional research, merely shovels them in to an appellate brief, is producing a substandard product. (In re Marriage of Shaban, supra, 88 Cal.App.4th at p. 410.)
The attorneys at Esner, Chang & Ellis possess the knowledge, savvy, and skills necessary to effectively litigate in the appellate arena. They have been honing these attributes daily for more than 75 years among them. They truly love practicing appellate law, and love working with their clients towards positive results, whether it be the reversal of an erroneous ruling below or the affirmance of a correct one.
Stuart B Esner
Esner Chang & Ellis
500 N Brand Blvd #2210
Glendale CA 91203
Tel: 818 956-3100
Fax: 818 956-3105
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