USA - NATIONWIDE: An Introduction to Appellate Law

High-stakes business appeals represent a critical inflection point for companies, executives, and legal teams alike. A major appellate decision can reshape not only the outcome of a particular dispute, but also alter the broader trajectory of a business – or, in some cases, even an entire industry. The stakes are often immense, and the results can reverberate far beyond the parties directly involved.

This ranking table highlights the firms and attorneys who handle such matters throughout America, including work before the US Supreme Court, the federal circuits, and the highest courts of various states.

As recognized leaders in the field, these appellate specialists share core competencies – most notably, the ability to untangle complexity, contextualize difficult facts, and tell impactful stories, both in writing and in oral advocacy.

Identifying the right match for a particular appeal, however, requires more than simply assessing credentials or experience. It calls for understanding who is not just highly qualified, but also best positioned to deliver results given the specific legal, procedural, and business context.

Three questions are often worth asking in this regard:

What Size?

The size of law firm where an appellate group practices sometimes matters when finding the best fit for a particular appeal. For example: Large law firms offer distinct advantages that may be important for certain types of appeals, such as access to a deep bench of internal experts across a wide array of legal disciplines and industry sectors. This multidisciplinary support can prove invaluable when appeals involve overlapping regulatory, financial, or technical issues.

But such large platforms also come with potential limitations for other kinds of cases. As legal commentator David Lat recently observed: “Large law firms have many more stakeholders and constituencies compared with boutiques, including more clients and employees – many of whom object to the firm taking on certain hot-button representations.” (See “As Biglaw Shrinks From Taking on Trump, Boutiques Step Up” (June 5, 2025)). In the appellate world, that dynamic played out visibly in 2022, when Paul Clement and Erin Murphy left Kirkland & Ellis after winning a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case for the New York Rifle & Pistol Association, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), because the firm announced it would no longer represent clients in Second Amendment cases.

By contrast, boutique firms face fewer institutional constraints. They are often more nimble in their decision-making and more willing to take on politically sensitive or controversial matters – whether involving public-sector labor disputes, firearm regulations, election law controversies, or complex constitutional claims. As a result, many hot-button appeals – on both sides of the political spectrum – are led by leading appellate attorneys at smaller firms.

Boutiques also tend to be more open to entrepreneurial arrangements. This flexibility can be especially attractive in high-stakes appeals where clients are managing significant financial exposure or pursuing outcomes with strategic business implications. Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all billing model, boutique firms are often willing to customize fee arrangements to reflect the complexity, duration, and risk profile of a given matter.

Which Jurisdiction?

Appellate courts differ in more than name. Each has its own distinct rules, procedural customs, and underlying ethos. Hiring an appellate team with substantial experience in a specific jurisdiction provides more than surface-level familiarity – it can confer real strategic and predictive value. Understanding local expectations, court culture, and even unwritten norms can influence the tone of a brief, the framing of issues, and the conduct of oral argument.

States with a significant number of high-stakes appeals – such as California and Texas – have developed highly specialized appellate bars. Accordingly, Chambers USA offers separate ranking tables for those states. These localized rankings reflect the reality that significant familiarity with a particular jurisdiction can meaningfully impact appellate success.

The federal system has likewise evolved along similar lines. Much has been written about the rise of a specialized U.S. Supreme Court Bar – which includes most of us who are included in this ranking table. The same phenomenon applies, in many ways, to practice before the federal circuits. Leading Supreme Court and appellate groups with national practices typically have some geographic emphases. Some are particularly active before the Federal or D.C. Circuits; others focus more on the Second, Seventh, or other regional circuits.

Such focus is often tied to where a firm’s most experienced appellate lawyers are based. Our California-based firm, for example, handles a disproportionate number of high-stakes appeals before the Ninth Circuit.

Who Makes You Comfortable?

A final consideration is whether appellate counsel offers the right mix of trust, strategic alignment, and interpersonal chemistry. How a lawyer sees your case – and how they explain their plan for winning it – should align with your goals and instincts.

That’s why it’s often wise to speak with more than one team. Different lawyers will approach the same appeal in different ways. Listening to how each explains your options can offer important insight. Are they direct about the challenges? Do they identify a credible path forward? Is their reasoning compelling?

Appellate litigation involves judgment calls that aren’t always obvious. The best advocates bring more than just technical proficiency. They bring perspective – on what the case is really about, how it’s likely to be received, and which arguments are most likely to succeed.

Counsel should respect and support the interview process. We believe clients have the best experience when they take the time to choose counsel whose approach resonates with them – and who is the right fit for the significance and stakes at hand.