Laila Hadiwijaya
Founding partner
Civil appeals for businesses and individuals, and the briefs that ask a court to rehear a case.
Appellate counsel in Washington, D.C.
“Equal justice under law.”
Four words are carved above the entrance to the Supreme Court. They make a promise. They do not keep it on their own.
Trials go wrong in ordinary ways: an instruction that misstates the law, evidence that should have stayed out, a ruling made in a hurry at the end of a long day. An appeal is how those mistakes get a second reading, by judges who have only the record and the briefs.
That second reading is our whole practice. We read the record closely, find the errors that matter, and set them down plainly enough that a busy court cannot pass them by.
Laila Hadiwijaya
Founding partner
The lawyers
Three names, one record at a time
The lawyer who reads your record is the one who writes the brief and stands up at argument. Each of them has a page of their own.
Percival Tsao
Partner
Criminal appeals and post-conviction petitions, after long years reading transcripts for the defense.
Sekou Diarra
Associate
Works with trial lawyers before and after the verdict, and writes the record section of every brief.
The clock is already running
Tell us what the court decided, and on what date
The time to file a notice of appeal is short, and it starts when the judgment is entered, not when you hear about it. Write with the case number and that date. A lawyer reads every message and writes back with what has to happen next.