Chapter 22 The Court of Appeal

In the early years of practice, you will rarely go the Court of Appeal.

I don’t propose to say much.

However, you will probably have some appearances, and they will terrify you.

Don’t be frightened.

The Court of Appeal is fantastic. The Judges are extremely clever, and the papers are always fully considered before you get to your feet. They know exactly what they want to talk about, and usually will tell you straight away. And they are always courteous.

You will usually be over-prepared. You will have been up half the night trying to think of every permutation of question you might be asked, and every aspect of the facts of your case.

Try to relax.

Keep it simple.

While you may have prepared a long and detailed opening of the application, almost always you will not utter it. The Judges will interrupt you politely and take you straight to the point which interests them. Your appearance usually takes the form of questions and you do your best to answer them. It is like a moot. Simply keep your wits about you. You may be right in what you say. You may be wrong. But don’t worry. That is why the Judges are there - to decide whether you are right.

Certainly, you should spend a little spare time sitting in the public gallery of the Court of Appeal, becoming familiar with the atmosphere and culture of the court.

Your guiding light is probably the earlier chapter on addressing the judge, although you can assume in the Court of Appeal, they do know the law, and a lot better than you. In fact, you will need to be well-read in the relevant law as they may of course be troubled by some fine point of distinction, and the Judges may not always agree among themselves on interpretation.

However the other points in the earlier chapter all still apply,

about speaking slowly,

with deference and politeness,

only needing to make a point once,

being brief,

making eye contact, having prepared a short, opening statement which captures the heart of your application,

and weaving your skeleton into your argument.

Above all, enjoy the experience.