Should the client be present during the argument of the appeal?

• Jurisdiction: United States

Section 132. Should the client be present during the argument of the appeal?—Different considerations apply depending on whether the appeal is from the judgment in a civil or a criminal case, but they all lead to the same conclusion: The client should not (repeat, not) be present while his appeal is being argued.

(a) Criminal cases. Never let your client be present if the appeal involves a criminal case.

Unless such a case involves simply "a matter of principle," such as a $100 fine for violation of a municipal ordinance the constitutional validity of which is in issue, the appellant of record in a criminal case has a great deal at stake: loss of liberty, loss of reputation, loss frequently of livelihood, loss of property, and, in criminal tax cases, where substantial civil penalties follow upon a successful prosecution, loss of money in what are frequently very sizeable sums. A man would be somewhat less than human if he were not deeply concerned over these eventualities, and if...