The reply brief is a valuable arsenal for appellate counsel representing the interests of the appellant. See Saxe and Scharf, The Appellant's End Game: Some Thoughts on the Reply Brief and the Rebuttal Argument, New York Law Journal (July 27, 2018). Along with a powerfully constructed Reply Brief, having the ability to offer a strong oral argument in rebuttal can, in our opinion, often make the difference in winning and losing an appeal. The reason that this is so, is by the point in the appellate argument when the rebuttal is reached, the concerns and viewpoints of the panel toward your presentation and that of your adversary have been fully explored. You now have clear sailing by having this last opportunity to clarify and persuade.

Let us offer some tidbits for your appeal, reflecting our experience for best practices in framing an effective rebuttal argument.

• First of all, in those jurisdictions that allow for rebuttal, make sure that you reserve some rebuttal time, usually at the call of the calendar or at the outset of the argument. If you don't and wake up after the appellee finishes, you very well may have waived your opportunity for rebuttal.