Whether in my past practice in a mid-sized law firm where I was chair of the appellate practice group, or as a freelance lawyer and brief writer until recently, I’ve generally been the guy other lawyers turn to for help with a difficult appeal. As a result, I’ve had lots of experience writing briefs for appellants with little chance of winning or otherwise representing parties with uphill battles in appellate matters and have been lucky enough to win more times than expected. I’ve written here before that in such circumstances, an appellate attorney must be bold. A boring brief of the kind judges and staff attorneys have seen a thousand times before simply won’t do. In these types of appellate matters I shun the rules of…