Practice Focus: Appeals (Civil and
Criminal, State and Federal)
Illinois Appellate Lawyers
Illinois appellate attorney
Curtis Blood has extensive experience in all
phases of appellate litigation, Federal and
Illinois State, civil and criminal law. He has
worked approximately 200 appellate cases, both
prosecuting and defending and served as Counsel of
record in over 100 published appellate opinions.
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Curtis L. Blood has practiced in the same brown
brick building in Collinsville, Illinois since
1991. The appellate practice started with
court-appointed appeals before United States
courts of appeals. The practice currently serves
individual clients rather than corporations, and
is about evenly split between civil and criminal
and between state and federal. Despite a
substantial number of private clients, Mr. Blood
continues to serve from time to time as
court-appointed counsel on appeal for people who
cannot afford to hire an attorney. YOUR APPEAL AND HOW I HANDLE IT
I personally handle all duties related to each
appeal. You don't rely on secretaries or paralegals to
relay messages or figure out what is going on. Your
private business is not shared with an office staff. I
won't give the briefing work to an associate fresh out
of law school, like many large firms do. No attorney
will keep you better-informed than I. My clients are
welcome to call. Every time a piece of paper enters or
leaves this office concerning a case, the client gets
a copy.
- INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH - When I interview
you the first time, I ask about the judgment or
order being appealed, the dates of judgment and
notice of appeal and other significant dates, and
the nature of the case.
- BRIEFS - The single most important work product
is the brief. The appellant (person bringing the
appeal) files the first brief. The appellee
(person defending against the appeal) files an
answer brief.
- ORAL ARGUMENT - Oral argument is not granted if
the court of appeals does not think it will help
decide the appeal.
- THE DECISION - The court of appeals issues a
written decision. When it issues depends on the
case and the judges' schedules.
- PETITION FOR REHEARING - Each party has a short
time after the decision to request a change in the
decision.
- SUPREME-COURT REVIEW - Each party may request
supreme-court review of the decision of the court
of appeals.
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