Appellate Litigation

Photo by David Potvin Photography

Whelan Corrente’s Appellate Litigation team is one of the premier appellate practices in the state.

The practice is led by Robert G. Flanders, Jr., a former Justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and an experienced appellate litigator, who is admitted to the bars of the United States Supreme Court, the First Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court, among other bar memberships.  He served for eight years as a Rhode Island Supreme Court justice, writing over 400 opinions and serving with three of the five justices on the present Court.  He has unparalleled knowledge of how the Court actually functions, both as an appellate lawyer and as a judge sitting on that Court for eight years.  Thus, he is able to strategically counsel clients on their chances for a successful appeal, on how to structure and brief winning appellate arguments, and, more importantly, on what arguments to make and which ones to forsake.  He is also adept at using the Court’s mediation process to resolve cases.

After stepping down from the Supreme Court in 2004, Justice Flanders continued to argue appeals before the Court and to advise clients and lawyers on appellate strategy, briefing, and tactics.  Most recently, he obtained a successful result for a client on appeal in a case of first impression concerning the proper scope of expert discovery in the Rhode Island state court system.

Timothy Baldwin, a former law clerk to now Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell and United States Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan, has vast experience in analyzing legal positions and developing legal strategy.  Timothy is well-versed in effective legal advocacy from the combined five years he spent as a law clerk and his years in private practice.  He also keeps up to date on the latest legal developments in state and federal court.  Timothy researches a wide array of issues arising in civil and criminal litigation, and pays particularly close attention to substantive legal developments and rulings on procedure, evidence, and administrative law.  He has read in full every published decision from the Rhode Island and United States Supreme Courts from October 2012 to the present, and he monitors cases of interest from the First Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island.  This deep knowledge of the law helps clients present the strongest possible arguments on appeal.

Timothy has an extensive background in legal writing and has crafted legal arguments on a wide variety of civil and criminal law topics.  He has also drafted portions of briefs for successful outcomes at the Rhode Island Supreme Court and the First Circuit Court of Appeals.  During law school, Timothy assisted the plaintiff’s case in Munaf v. Geren, 553 U.S. 674 (2008), a case argued before the United States Supreme Court, while the case was pending before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Clients can feel comfortable that, while we provide litigation and counseling services of distinguished quality, Whelan Corrente pays close attention to cost-savings and efficiency.  We are alert to controlling legal expenses and to avoiding wasteful and unnecessary effort.

David Potvin Photography