Holdsworth & Inkwell
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of AppealsNew York, New York

Overview

Understanding This Court

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen U.S. courts of appeals in the federal judiciary. As an intermediate appellate court, it reviews decisions from the U.S. district courts within its circuit, along with certain federal administrative agency and board decisions, and does not conduct trials. Cases are ordinarily heard and decided by three-judge panels, with the full court sitting only for rare en banc review. The court's clerk's office and courtrooms are located at the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in lower Manhattan, New York City.

Jurisdiction

The Second Circuit's territorial jurisdiction covers three states: Connecticut, New York, and Vermont. It hears appeals from the U.S. district courts in those states, including the following districts:

  • Southern District of New York
  • Eastern District of New York
  • Northern District of New York
  • Western District of New York
  • District of Connecticut
  • District of Vermont

What the court hears

As a general federal appellate court, the Second Circuit hears appeals across the full range of federal civil and criminal matters arising from the district courts in its territory. Given its location at the center of the U.S. financial industry, its docket is notably weighted toward securities law, banking and commercial litigation, antitrust, and international finance matters, and it has issued a number of influential decisions in those areas, as well as in admiralty law, over the past century.

Practicing before the court

Admission to practice before the Second Circuit is separate from admission to any state bar within the circuit. An attorney must be a member in good standing of at least one bar, state or federal, and file a formal Attorney Admission Application, oath, and sponsor's motion with the court, along with an admission fee. Admission must be renewed periodically to remain active.

Attorneys

Admitted to the Second Circuit

Appearing before the Second Circuit takes a separate admission beyond state bar membership, granted court by court. The attorneys below hold that admission, drawn from across all four of the firm's offices, not only the one nearest Manhattan. Admission marks who may file and argue here; it is the threshold, not the record of what has been argued.

All attorneys

Matters

Before the Second Circuit

Admission before the Second Circuit is a credential. The matters below are the record built on it: work our attorneys have carried through this court, for clients on both sides of its docket. Some appearances defended an institution against a claim that reached appeal; others pressed a client's own position before the same panels. Each reflects its own facts, and none predicts how a future matter here will resolve.

Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict a similar outcome in any future matter. Every engagement is unique and must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances.

All representative matters

One thread, start to finish.

Bringing a Matter to This Court?

A matter headed to the Second Circuit often starts with a conversation well before any notice of appeal is filed. We stay with it through that stretch, not handed from one attorney to the next along the way. For the fuller picture of where our attorneys are admitted, see credentials.