Appellate

Verrill’s Appellate Group provides clients with sophisticated legal counsel, bringing special insight to matters that come before appellate courts and administrative appellate bodies.

Effective appellate advocacy requires a distinct skill set grounded in clear analysis, careful issue selection, and strong written and oral argument. Verrill’s appellate team brings decades of experience briefing and arguing complex matters before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and appellate courts throughout New England and across the country. Our lawyers understand how to frame legal questions in a way that helps courts reach a thoughtful and well-supported outcome, and we take pride in the clarity and precision of our written work. Because Verrill attorneys regularly appear before appellate courts, we can counsel clients and craft arguments based on personal experience of the justices that will be ruling on an appeal.

Because appellate matters often shape the development of the law, clients rely on us to defend favorable results, reverse adverse decisions, and evaluate whether an appeal is strategically sound. Our work spans civil litigation, commercial disputes, environmental and natural resources matters, energy and utilities, higher education, health care, insurance, real estate and development, employment, and administrative law. We also have significant experience with closed-record proceedings such as administrative agency appeals, arbitration appeals, ERISA appeals, bankruptcy appeals, procurement-related appeals and challenges to state agency contracting.  These cases often involve complex statutory requirements and strict administrative procedures, and our team is well equipped to guide clients through both the administrative hearing process and any subsequent judicial review.

We also understand that strong appellate results begin long before a notice of appeal is filed. Verrill lawyers frequently partner with trial teams to preserve issues, develop effective motion strategies, and monitor cases where an eventual appeal is likely. Our approach ensures that the record is properly built and that legal questions are positioned for the best possible outcome on appeal. This early involvement can be crucial in cases involving complex statutory interpretation, constitutional questions, regulatory enforcement, or significant public and private rights.

How We Help

Verrill represents businesses, public and private institutions, utilities, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and individuals in all stages of the appellate process.

Our services include:

• Early case assessment and analysis of potential appellate issues
• Evaluation of applicable standards of review and likely outcomes
• Strategic selection of the most effective issues for appeal
• Coordination of pre-appeal settlement programs and related options
• Ensuring a complete and accurate appellate record
• Drafting and refining opening, responsive, and reply briefs
• Preparing for oral argument through practice sessions and focused outlines
• Presenting oral argument before state and federal appellate courts
• Advising on next steps following the court’s decision

Representative Matters

• Verrill represented a national provider of Medicaid‑related services in successfully defending a multi-year contract award issued by Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services.  Our team intervened in the administrative challenge brought by an incumbent bidder, participated in a three‑day evidentiary hearing, and secured an administrative decision affirming the award.  We then successfully defended that decision on appeal before the Maine Business and Consumer Court, working alongside DHHS and the Department of Administrative and Financial Services to uphold the State’s procurement process.  The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the State’s award to our client in a decision that largely adopted our arguments.
• Verrill obtained a unanimous decision from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court confirming that seaweed growing on intertidal land is the property of the private landowner and not subject to public harvesting rights. Gordon Smith represented the landowners and secured a ruling with statewide significance for Maine’s coastal ecosystem.
• Verrill represented coastal landowners in a long-running dispute involving ownership and public use rights at Goose Rocks Beach. After more than a decade of litigation, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision that clarified important questions regarding coastal property rights in Maine.
• Verrill represents several coastal landowners in a pending appeal that challenges the scope of public and private rights in Maine’s intertidal land. The plaintiffs seek a ruling that all such land is state owned and that the public has broad use rights, and they also ask the Court to overrule prior precedent. The decision will have statewide implications for coastal property owners.
• Verrill represented a property owner in an eminent domain dispute in Massachusetts involving pro tanto damages following a municipal taking. The Superior Court ruled in the City’s favor, but the Supreme Judicial Court reversed and held that the owner was entitled to the statutory award after analyzing the structure and legislative history of the governing statutes.
• Verrill represented a property owner seeking damages arising from temporary and permanent takings connected to a state transportation project in Massachusetts. A jury awarded nearly three million dollars in damages, and the Supreme Judicial Court addressed the scope of compensation available for takings related to limited access highway construction and impairment of access.
• Verrill secured affirmance from the First Circuit Court of Appeals of the dismissal of breach of fiduciary duty, contract, and other common law claims arising from its client’s administration of a welfare benefits program for Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services. The Court held that the plaintiffs were required to exhaust administrative remedies before bringing suit.
• Verrill successfully defended multiple contract awards to a provider of non-emergency transportation brokerage services for Medicaid members throughout Maine. Through an administrative hearing and two judicial appeals, Verrill defeated claims that the state procurement process was arbitrary, capricious, or unlawful.
• Verrill represented a provider of mortgage loan due diligence services in litigation against a loan originator that refused to pay invoices for services performed on more than 1,800 loans. After a bench trial, the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut awarded the full amount of the unpaid invoices plus statutory interest, resulting in a judgment of $1.664 million. The judgment was upheld on appeal to the Second Circuit.