Overview
If you disagree with a final decision from the Superior Court or a DC Government Agency, you may have the right to appeal. An appeal is not a new trial. You will not be able to present new evidence or witnesses. Instead, the appeals court looks at the filings, transcripts, and exhibits from the trial or agency proceeding to decide if the trial judge or agency correctly applied the law.
This page will walk you through the basic steps of the appeals process. It’s written for people who do not have a lawyer, but it is helpful for anyone who wants to better understand how appeals work.
Get Legal Help
The appeals process can be complicated, and there are strict rules and deadlines. You may want to talk to a lawyer.
You may be able to get a free court-appointed lawyer for your appeal, depending on your case and income.
Here’s how it works:
You will automatically get a lawyer for your appeal if:
- You already had a court-appointed lawyer in the trial court (Superior Court),
- You don’t have your own (private) lawyer, and
- You are appealing one of these:
- A felony or misdemeanor conviction
- A court order that keeps you in jail before your trial
- A decision to revoke your probation or parole
- An order to send you to another state (extradition)
If you didn’t go through income screening in Superior Court:
You can fill out a form called a Fee Waiver Application to ask for a free lawyer on appeal.
The court may also appoint a lawyer in other criminal matters, such as:
- Denial of a motion to re-sentence
- An appeal of a case seeking to challenge an already final conviction, sometimes called a 23-110 case (from DC Code § 23-110), a habeas case
You will automatically get a lawyer for your appeal if:
- You are a juvenile who was found delinquent or in need of supervision
- You are a child, parent, guardian, or custodian who had a court-appointed lawyer in a neglect or termination of parental rights case in Superior Court
If you didn’t go through income screening in Superior Court:
You can fill out a form called a Fee Waiver Application to ask for a free lawyer on appeal.
The Appeals Process
Before you start, view our “How to Appeal” page for information about the types of orders and decisions that can be appealed, deadlines, fees, and more.
- To start, the appellant (person asking for the appeal) must file a paper to tell the court and the other side that they are appealing.
- To appeal a Superior Court decision, file a Notice of Appeal.
- To appeal a DC Government Agency decision, file a Petition for Review.
- It must be filed quickly, usually within 30 days after a final decision from the Superior Court or DC Government Agency.
The notice or petition must be filed with the DC Superior Court, not the Court of Appeals.
- After the court receives your notice of appeal or petition for review, it will screen your case for mediation, a process where a neutral person tries to help both sides reach an agreement. If your case is not selected for mediation or if you do not reach an agreement, the case will move forward to “briefing”.
- A brief is a written explanation of why you believe the trial court or agency made a mistake in deciding against you. The other party will also file a brief explaining their position.
- The court may decide your case based on the briefs, or ask you and the other party to come to court to present your argument before a panel of three judges. This is called “oral argument” and it is your chance to explain your side and answer questions from the judges before they make a final decision.
- After reviewing the briefs, and the filings, transcripts, and exhibits from the trial or agency proceeding, and considering any oral argument, the panel of judges assigned to your case will issue a written opinion.
- If you think the panel decided your case incorrectly, you can ask them or all of the Court of Appeals judges, to rehear your appeal based on the rules.
Check out our Court of Appeals FAQs for more answers.