Appeals and post-conviction relief
An appeal is not a second trial. It is a search for the specific error that changed the outcome, and it is won or lost on the record.
Brian Steel is widely described as one of the most successful criminal appellate attorneys in Georgia, with roughly 300 published appellate opinions and approximately 45 reversals of convictions to his credit. In a system where the great majority of convictions are affirmed, that record is the product of two things: finding the errors that matter, and preserving them correctly at trial so they can be raised at all.
There are two kinds of appellate work and they are not the same. Preserving error happens during the trial, in the moment, through objections, motions, and requests to charge. Raising error happens afterward, in the brief and at argument. The second depends entirely on the first, which is why the firm treats the trial record as the beginning of the appeal rather than the end of it.
The errors that reverse convictions are rarely dramatic. They tend to be improper jury instructions, prosecutorial comment on a defendant's silence or failure to testify, suppression issues decided wrongly, closure of the courtroom, evidentiary rulings that admitted what should have been excluded, and ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Each has its own body of law, and each requires that the record show the issue was raised.
The firm handles direct appeals to the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Georgia, federal appeals to the Eleventh Circuit and others, state and federal habeas corpus petitions, and motions for new trial. It also works with trial counsel on other cases to make sure that issues are preserved, which is often the cheapest appellate work a client can buy.