Appeal methods in judgments are defined as legal means that entitle the losing party to pursue the available avenues of appeal within the legally prescribed time limits, for the purpose of rectifying any defects that may have affected the judgment and seeking its annulment in accordance with their legal pleas.

Appeal methods, particularly in civil judgments, are divided into ordinary methods: objection to default judgments and appeal; and extraordinary methods: cassation, retrial, third-party objection, and correction of the cassation decision.

The legal representative bears a legal obligation that I would characterize as one of result rather than mere means, insofar as it concerns the pursuit of these appeal methods whenever they are legally available. It is not acceptable for them to argue that the case was likely to be lost and therefore they did not appeal, nor any other excuse.

Therefore, we summarize their role as follows:

1. Obtaining the judicial judgment or decision issued by the civil or criminal court of first instance.

2. Carefully reading the judgment and reviewing its reasoning, grounds, and the legal bases and defenses upon which it relied.

3. Ascertaining the available appeal methods for the judgment according to the court’s description thereof, although the decisive factor is what the law prescribes in light of the value and nature of the case. In other words, if they find that the description of the appeal methods stated in the judgment is incorrect, they must adhere to the methods prescribed by law.

4. Observing the legal time limits for appeal, as they are mandatory, since pursuing judgments outside these limits results in forfeiture of the right to appeal.

5. Preparing the appropriate appeal brief according to the type of appeal, mentioning the name of the competent appellate court and the names of the opposing parties, and avoiding mentioning that the decision being appealed is the court’s judgment itself, as this would lead to its summary dismissal on procedural grounds.

6. Submitting the appeal to the competent appellate body and paying the prescribed legal fee. They cannot be heard to argue that they did not submit the appeal because their department did not provide them with the appeal fee.

7. Continuously following up on the outcome of the appeal.

8. Progressively exhausting all available appeal methods, including the route of correction of the cassation decision. It is not acceptable for them to argue that this appeal method is unproductive and need not be pursued, because by doing so, they would have forfeited an opportunity to have the judgment or decision issued against their department reversed.

These are the most important observations pertaining to this important aspect, the neglect of which may expose the legal representative to civil and criminal liability. It may be described as a gross error giving rise to liability.