You are convinced the judge has got it wrong.

Your client is unhappy, wants to appeal and has made it clear that he or she expects there to be no technical or procedural hitches.

Where do you begin?TIME LIMITSIn the main, these are very short and allow little time for consideration or for conferring with counsel.-- High Court:District judge to High Court judge -- seven days (RSC 058 r 3)High Court judge to Court of Appeal -- 4 weeks (RSC 059 r 4)-- County CourtDistrict judge to circuit judge -- 14 days (CCR 037 r 6)District judge to circuit judge: interlocutory appeal -- 5 days (CCR 013 r.1(11)-- Family proceedingsDistrict judge to circuit judge -- 14 days (FPR 8.1(4))If you are likely to need longer, you should apply for an extension of time either at the conclusion of the hearing or in any event before the relevant limit has expired.STAY OF EXECUTION PENDING APPEALDo not assume this will be an automatic consequence of filing a notice of appeal.

An application for a specific order is required (RSC 058 r.1: CCR 037 r 8: FPR 8.1(6)).LEAVE TO APPEAL OUT OF TIMEIf you miss the boat, all is not lost, but the grant of leave to appeal out of time is entirely within the discretion of the court.

The matters usually taken into account in exercising discretion are:1.

the length of delay2.

the reason for the delay3.

the prospects of success if leave is granted, and;4.

the degree of prejudice to the other side if leave is granted.

But the mere fact that a final judgment or order will be re-opened is not in itself prejudice for this purpose (CM van Stillevoldt BV v El Carriers Inc [1993] 1 WLR 297).

Where, however, the delay is short and excusable, leave will not be refused on the merits unless the appeal is clearly based on hopeless grounds (Palata Investments Ltd v Burt & Sinfie ld Ltd [1985] 1 WLR 942).In the county court, the application may be made to a district judge, but, at least in complicated family cases, it should in practice be made to a circuit judge (Ritchie v Ritchie [1996] 1 FLR 898 CA).

If the hearing of the appeal itself is likely to be long -- certainly if it will take half a day or more -- the application for leave should be made on a short appointment and the judge should, if the application is successful, be asked to give directions as to the listing of the appeal itself.

In the Court of Appeal the application for leave will normally be heard by the Registrar of Civil Appeals, but must be made to a single Lord Justice if a stay of execution is sought.

The procedure is described in the white book notes to RSC 059 r 14 at 59/14/8.THE COURT'S APPROACH TO THE APPEALThis varies according to the nature of the judgment or order which is under appeal.

If it is an interlocutory order, the hearing will be a hearing de novo.

While the judge hearing the appeal will give the previous decision the weight it merits, he or she is in no way bound by it (RSC 058 r 1: CCR 013 r 1(10).

If, however, the order is a final judgment or order in civil proceedings, the position is very different.

In the county court, a new trial can only be ordered if the Court of Appeal would grant a new trial in similar circumstances.

If the appeal is put on the basis that the judge below exercised his or her discretion wrongly, a new trial can be ordered only if the judge hearing the appeal concludes that no reasonable judge could have exercised discretion in that way, and not on the basis that the appellate judge would have exercised discretion in a different way (G v G [1985] 2 All ER 225 HL).

In family proceedings, an order in ancillary relief proceedings is a final order but the judge hearing the appeal can nevertheless substitute his or her own discretion and admit further evidence (Marsh v Marsh [1993] 1 FLR 467 CA).NOTES OF JUDGMENTIn a case heard before a district judge, the judgment will not normally have been recorded.

In appeals against final orders in civil proceedings and even in appeals against orders for ancillary relief, the appellate judge will need an accurate note of the judgment of the district judge.

Even in appeals against interlocutory orders, a note of the judgment can be useful since the appellate judge may decide to shorten proceedings by adopting findings of fact made by the district judge.

As the appellant's solicitor, you should in such cases prepare a transcript of the judgment from your notes and submit this to the district judge for approval.

If counsel appeared for your client before the district judge, then counsel should do this.

The fee for doing so is included in the brief fee (Practice Note [1994] 1 WLR 74).CHANGES IN THE LAW: A SPECIAL CASEIn the ordinary way, a change in the law after the event will not necessarily result in the grant of leave to appeal out of time.

However, cases in which claims have been automatically struck out have now been held to be in a special category, since there will have been no decision on the merits.

If as a result of the Bannister appeals there is a strong prospect of success, leave is likely to be given if it is sought promptly and if there would be no significant prejudice to third parties or to the respondent.

In this instance, prejudice resulting only from the re-opening of the case can be taken into account and in the ordinary way the application for leave should be issued within 28 days of the change in the law being reported, regardless of whether, for example, a legal aid application has not been determined (Greig Middleton & Co v Denderowicz [1997] 4 All ER 181 CA).