Feb. 16, 2011 – When a treatise is praised in a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, that’s high praise indeed. And that’s exactly what happened last year, in Leavitt v. Beverly Enterprises, Inc., 2010 WI 71, ¶ 38, 326 Wis. 2d 421, 784 N.W.2d 683, when Appellate Practice and Procedure in Wisconsin (written by Madison attorney Michael S. Heffernan and published by State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE) was referred to as the “leading treatise on Wisconsin appellate procedure.” Although that decision cited the treatise as part of the court’s discussion of the history of Wisconsin’s appellate-jurisdiction rules, a quick search of case law reveals that Wisconsin’s appellate courts have cited this treatise dozens of times in connection with various issues arising on appeal. Judges and attorneys alike have come to consider this book the indispensable guide to the essential concepts and processes of Wisconsin’s two-tiered appellate court system.
The fifth edition of Appellate Practice and Procedure in Wisconsin, released in January 2011, is available in print and online via Books UnBound™, PINNACLE’s subscription-based online library. Both formats offer practical guidance on such basic steps as filing a notice of appeal, preparing appellate briefs, making oral argument, and filing a petition for supreme court review. The title also explains specific procedures, among them expedited appeals, one-judge appeals, administrative appeals, petitions for supervisory relief, and post-decision motions.
Appellate Practice and Procedure also contains several helpful appendices, including an extensive “Standards of Appellate Review” outline, prepared by the Honorable Richard S. Brown, the current chief judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. This appendix focuses on the standards that appellate courts apply in reviewing circuit court decisions. Another appendix compiles 30 forms used in the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. The complete set of forms on CD-ROM accompanies the print book. Books UnBound subscribers may access the forms online. Other appendices include handy listings of contact numbers and addresses of offices pertinent to appellate practice; materials for expedited appeals; and the complete text of the Wisconsin Rules of Appellate Procedure, updated to include all legislation and supreme court orders through 2010.
The newly released fifth edition of Appellate Practice analyzes recent legal developments affecting a range of issues relevant to civil and criminal appellate practice and procedure. In one particularly noteworthy development, discussed in the book, the supreme court has clarified whether court of appeals opinions retain any precedential value after the supreme court partially overrules them. The fifth edition also updates readers on amendments to the appellate rules, affecting the content of appellate appendices filed after Jan. 1, 2011.
The Appellate Practice and Procedure book is available in print to members for $155 and nonmembers for $195, plus tax, shipping, and handling. Subscribers to the Bar’s automatic supplementation service will receive future updates at a discount off the regular price. Annual subscriptions to Books UnBound start at $129 per title and $649 for the full library (single-user prices; call for firm pricing). To order Appellate Practice and Procedure, or for more information, contact the State Bar at (800) 728-7788 or (608) 257-3838.
