Commonsense tactics like reading notices sent from the courts and paying close attention to details can make a big difference in having a case move smoothly in the state Appellate Division.
At a recent New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) Appellate Practice Committee meeting, staff from the Appellate Division pulled back the curtain, sharing insights on how the division operates. The speakers, which included case managers, calendaring and final disposition unit representatives, staff attorneys and judges, focused on common mistakes to avoid and actions to take to help move case processing along.
“We deal with several thousand appeals as a court each year and every week we’re very busy writing opinions on cases that we’ve already considered and on upcoming cases. It’s very useful to have things organized in a way that’s in compliance with the rules so we don’t spin our wheels chasing down where on earth did the ruling that’s being appealed show up somewhere in those 15 transcripts,” said Judge Jack Sabatino, who presides in the Superior Court Appellate Division.
A lot of the deficiencies are avoidable, said John Zera, supervisor of the pretrial appeals unit in the Appellate Division.
“If we can cut down on the deficiencies, obviously we can get these cases out to court as quick as possible. I’ve seen them out to court from docketing to scheduling in four days if there’s no deficiencies,” Zera said.
Helpful tips:
• Include indictments on sentencing appeals
• Include pleas in general, which is a required transcript for the sentencing unit
• Include legal argument locations in the table contents and the body of a brief
• Order transcripts on an expedited basis
• Provide a separate table of contents and cover page in a voluminous appendix
• Include all the exhibits to the appellate court that were provided to the trial court
• Read the court rules
• Read the e-communications the division sends you
• Ensure that all judges are included, especially if a plea and sentence were heard by different people
• Proper formatting can help save time
If someone doesn’t understand the request or why something is deficient, it can be a good idea for an attorney call the case manager or supervisor to have them explain it, said Danielle Vaz, supervisor of sentence oral arguments and Megan’s Law appeals in the Appellate Division.