Civil and Criminal Appeals

Collectively, the Firm’s lawyers have represented clients in over 100 civil and criminal appeals before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, the Firm has appeared in matters on appeal before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Illinois Appellate Courts, and the Illinois Supreme Court. The firm has successfully handled appeals both in cases where it represented the client in the trial court, as well as in matters where it was retained solely as appellate counsel, and has represented clients in cases presenting a wide range of issues on appeal.

Representative cases include:

  • United States v. Fenzl, 670 F.3d 778 (7th Cir. 2012) (reversing defendant’s conviction for minority/women owned business fraud based on evidentiary error and prosecutor’s improper closing argument);
  • Courtney v. Bd. of Election Comm'rs of City of Chicago, 2011 WL 10088197, at *1 (Ill. App. Ct. 1st Dist. Feb. 18, 2011) (upholding Chicago aldermanic candidate’s eligibility for office and defeating petition challenge);
  • United States v. Darryl Johnson, No. 02 C 6998, N.D. Ill, December 13, 2010 (Hibbler, J.) (vacating defendant’s death sentence and awarding new sentencing hearing on defendant’s habeus motion for ineffective assistance of counsel);
  • United States v. Van Eyl, 468 F.3d 428 (7th Cir. 2006) (upholding district court’s grant of new trial for prosecutor’s improper reference to precluded theory of guilt in closing arguments);
  • United States v. Carroll, 346 F.3d 744 (7th Cir. 2003) (reversing and vacating sentence of State Department foreign service officer for improper application of enhancement, failure to apply acceptance of responsibility reduction, and District Court’s unreasonable upward departure from Probation Department’s Guideline calculation);
  • Elda Arnhold & Byzantio, L.L.C. v. Ocean Atl. Woodland Corp., 284 F.3d 693, 694 (7th Cir. 2002) (upholding seller’s right to terminate a contract for sale of large real estate parcel pursuant to “time is of the essence” clause under Illinois law when purchaser failed to close in a timely manner).