Description: This course addresses the steps you must take in the trial court to preserve issues for a possible appeal. Scenarios and hypotheticals will be given to raise issues and illustrate the problems that can arise at each stage of a trial prior to the time when a decision to appeal must be made. In addition, true and false questions will assist the reader in covering more introductory or technical material.

The sources of law for appellate practice are the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, or T.R.C.P., the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure, or T.R.A.P., the Rules of the Court of Appeals, or R.C.A, the Rules of the Supreme Court, or S.C.R., and case law. Neither criminal appeals in Tennessee, appeals to the workers' compensation panel, or appeals in federal court will be covered. They involve different procedures and rules.

The main idea in this course is to cause practitioners to begin thinking about a possible appeal long before the trial has been decided, as it is necessary to preserve issues in the trial court long before the final outcome can be known. Issues not properly preserved in the trial court will not be considered on appeal. Careful attention to the rules of procedure will allow the practitioner to focus on the merits of the case, and avoid problems in the procedural area.