About the Appellate Defender Program
The Appellate Defender is housed at Pierce Law; and is charged with the
responsibility of handling virtually all of the indigent criminal
appeals from New Hampshire state courts. For approximately twenty
years, James Duggan, now a Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court,
served as the Chief Appellate Defender.
The Appellate Defender, along with the Attorney General's office,
appears more often before the New Hampshire Supreme Court than any
other entity; accordingly it plays a very important role in the
development of criminal, constitutional, and statutory law in New
Hampshire. The Appellate Defender files approximately 100 briefs per
year in the New Hampshire Supreme Court, and orally argues some 80
cases per year in that Court.
The Appellate Defender serves the Pierce Law community directly by
offering a clinic for upper level students, in which students, assist
Appellate Defender attorneys in writing appeals and in preparing oral
arguments. The clinic, through that direct participation in the work of
the Appellate Defender, and through formal classroom instruction in
appellate advocacy, seeks to give students a thorough introduction to
the essential skills of an appellate lawyer applicable to any appellate
practice specialty.
