Welcome to ESNER & CHANG
Esner & Chang is a boutique appellate firm with offices in Southern and Northern California. The firm - founded in 1990 - handles all aspects of appellate and writ practice in all California and federal appellate courts. In addition, its attorneys consult with trial lawyers at every stage of litigation, preparing substantive briefing and helping establish the best record for potential appeal and, even more fundamentally, helping those attorneys win in the trial court in the first instance.
Each of Esner & Chang's two partners is certified as an appellate specialist by the California State Bar's Board of Legal Specialization, and each has more than 25 years experience practicing appellate law exclusively. The firm has a well-earned reputation among trial lawyers and the clients it represents as having successfully litigated a wide range of appeals and writs in civil matters. As its clients attest, the firm produces high-quality, efficient work product while at the same time providing the sort of personal commitment and client attention that only a small plaintiff's appellate firm can offer.
Why hire an appellate firm?
Appellate litigation is a specialized area of legal practice. It is not merely a continuation of trial court proceedings. As a result, the skills and knowledge necessary to prepare briefing which will persuade an appellate court are quite specific. For example, appellate proceedings rely almost exclusively on written briefs, which will be read and analyzed by at least three appellate justices with more time and more research attorneys than a superior court judge generally has available, and according to standards and presumptions quite different than those applied in the trial court. In addition, given the nature of appellate review and the potential for reevaluation of prior precedent, appellate counsel must be cognizant as to how a legal result he or she advocates in a particular case would fit into - or possibly change - a given area of law. (See, e.g., In re Marriage of Shaban (2001) 88 Cal.App.4th 398, 408-410.)
The upshot of these considerations is that appellate practice entails rigorous original work in its own right. The appellate practitioner who takes trial level points and authorities and, without reconsideration or additional research, merely shovels them in to an appellate brief, is producing a substandard product. (In re Marriage of Shaban, supra, 88 Cal.App.4th at p. 410.)
The attorneys at Esner & Chang possess the knowledge, savvy, and skills necessary to effectively litigate in the appellate arena. They have been honing these attributes daily for more than 75 years among them. They truly love practicing appellate law, and love working with their clients towards positive results, whether it be the reversal of an erroneous ruling below or the affirmance of a correct one.
