Appeals and Post-Conviction Representation
If someone in your family was sentenced in the last thirty days, the deadline matters more than anything else on this page.
The clock is already running
Texas state convictions — notice of appeal is due 30 days from the day sentence was announced in open court.
Federal convictions — 14 days from entry of judgment.
Missing that deadline usually ends an appeal before it begins. If you are inside the window, call now and ask us the date — that question takes two minutes to answer.
You are probably not the person who was convicted. Most people who call this firm are a mother, a wife, or a sister — someone who sat through a trial they did not entirely follow, and who is now holding a sentence they cannot accept.
You do not need to understand appellate procedure to make this call. That is our work, not yours. What you need to know is whether there is something here worth examining, and how long you have to decide. Both of those are short conversations.
Tell us the court, the date of sentencing, and the charge.
That is enough for us to tell you what your deadlines are and whether the record is worth a closer look.
The first call is free — a conversation to find out whether we are the right firm for your case, and whether yours is a case we can help with. Someone answers between 8:30 and 6:00 — Lauren, Niles or Grace.
We work either hourly or on a flat fee, and we will tell you which one fits your case on that first call.
If it is easier to write than to talk, email help@appealstx.com. Emailing us does not create an attorney-client relationship, so please do not send confidential details until we have agreed to represent you.
Criminal appeals — Texas state courts
If the conviction came from a Texas state court, the direct appeal is where most challenges begin. We handle felony appeals at every level, from capital murder to assault. What decides an appeal is not whether the jury reached the wrong conclusion — it is whether the record shows a legal error the appellate court is able to act on. Finding that error inside a cold transcript is a different skill from trying the case.
Federal criminal appeals
Federal appeals out of Texas are heard by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, and are conducted almost entirely in writing — so where your attorney sits matters far less than how they write. Niles is admitted in the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Supreme Court of the United States, and every federal district court in Texas.
Federal deadlines are shorter: fourteen days. Plea agreements also frequently contain appeal waivers, and families are often told an appeal is impossible because of one. Waivers have limits, and they are worth reading before anyone accepts that answer.
Motions for new trial
Filed within thirty days of sentencing, before the appeal proper begins. It is the only stage at which new evidence can be placed in front of the trial court — and the stage most often missed, because thirty days passes quickly while a family is still absorbing a sentence.
Writs of habeas corpus — 11.07, §2254, §2255
When the direct appeal is finished, or when the problem lies outside the trial record — ineffective assistance of counsel, evidence that has since come to light, a plea that was not what it was represented to be — the challenge moves to a writ. These are demanding, and they carry their own deadlines that run from the end of the direct appeal.
If you have already lost an appeal, that is not necessarily the end of the question.
Civil and family law appeals
We handle most civil appeals, including family law matters and appeals of protective orders. We do not take landlord-tenant cases from justice court.
Sex offender registration matters
We represent people in the administrative process before DPS and in mandamus proceedings seeking removal from the registry. These are among the most difficult matters we take, and in many situations the honest answer is that nothing can be done.
It takes one conversation to tell you which situation you are in.
Writs of mandamus
When a trial court has refused to do something the law requires, or has done something it had no authority to do, mandamus is sometimes the only remedy that moves quickly enough to matter. They are uncommon — but where the situation fits, they are a strong remedy to a serious problem.
Why families bring us a record
Niles Illich is board certified in criminal appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He began as a briefing attorney at the First Court of Appeals in Houston, drafting opinions for the justices — which is where he learned which arguments appellate courts respond to. He has practiced appeals only, for fifteen years, across more than 300 appeals.
Grace Shin spent twenty years in the Appellate Division of the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, where she responded to appeals on behalf of the State. She now brings that perspective to the other side of the record. She speaks conversational Korean.
Between them, this firm has read the same kind of trial record from both chairs. Niles and Grace appear together on the firm’s matters.