LEGAL RESEARCH GENERALLY

To Use the Search Panel for Legal Research, Click on “Streamlined Research” At the Top of the Page for Guidance—Searches for Single Strong Words or Phrases (in Quotation Marks) Work Best. 

This sampling of APPEALS issues may help in the selection of additional relevant categories and strong keywords for your searches.

Criminal Appeals

[All of the following can be found in both the “Appeals” and “Criminal Law” categories.]

Preservation of Error;

Harmless Error;

Reversible Error;

Interest of Justice Jurisdiction (unpreserved errors);

Weight of the Evidence Review (no need to preserve);

Legally Sufficient Evidence Review (must preserve, burden of proof);

Ineffective Assistance;

Prosecutorial Misconduct;

Right to Counsel;

Mode of Proceedings Errors;

Excessive Judicial Involvement in the Trial;

Waiver of Appeal (sufficiency of inquiry by the court);

Plea Allocutions (sufficiency of inquiry by the court):

Questions of Law (Court of Appeals);

Mixed Questions of Law and Fact (Court of Appeals);

Insufficient Record (holding appeal in abeyance, sending the case back for a reconstruction hearing or to otherwise flesh out the record);

Bench Trials (review criteria);

Article 78 (prohibition, etc.).

Civil Appeals

Preservation of Error;

Consideration of Issues Not Raised Below (“first time” issues);

Weight of the Evidence Review;

Sufficiency of the Evidence Review (burden of proof);

Administrative Law (review criteria, sufficiency of the evidence, limited role of appellate court);

Arbitration (review criteria, limited role of appellate court);

Right to Counsel (Family Court);

Appealable versus Non-Appealable Orders (non-final orders, evidentiary rulings, ex parte orders, orders by which a party is not aggrieved, consent orders, orders issued upon default, are generally not appealable, etc.);

Bench Trials (Review Criteria);

Article 78 (mandamus, etc.).