Israel F. Piedra

Israel Piedra is a Shareholder with Welts, White & Fontaine, a multi-practice law firm based in Nashua, New Hampshire, servicing clients all over the state. Israel joined the firm in 2015 and focuses his practice in general civil litigation, including appeals and personal injury law. He also represents property owners in timber trespass cases, which he writes about on his New England Tree Law website.

Attorney Piedra has successfully litigated cases at all levels of the New Hampshire court system. He appears regularly before appellate courts, including the New Hampshire Supreme Court and 1st Circuit Court of Appeals. He has been recognized as a top “Appellate Practice” attorney by The Best Lawyers in America.

Israel also serves on various professional and community boards, including the New Hampshire Association for Justice’s Board of Governors, the Manchester City Library Board of Trustees, and the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission.

Israel attended Bates College and Boston College Law School, and is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Welts, White & Fontaine attorneys have decades of experience handling appeals before the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

New Hampshire’s only appeals court, the New Hampshire Supreme Court, hears appeals from the various circuit courts (family, district, and probate divisions) and the superior court. Most trial court decisions may be appealed to the Supreme Court as a matter of right—that is, the Supreme Court must accept them for review. Other trial court decisions are “discretionary,” and the appealing party must petition the court to accept the case.

Proceedings before the N.H. Supreme Court and other appellate courts are very different than trial court proceedings. As a rule, only issues of law are up for discussion before the Supreme Court—not issues of fact. That means determinations of fact made by the trial court or jury are not reviewable, no matter how much a party disagrees with them. For other issues, such as evidentiary rulings, a certain amount of deference is granted to the trial judge’s decisions, making them difficult to overturn.

Appeals involve intensive legal research and writing. They often also involve oral argument before the Court. Whether you are the appealing party, defending an appeal, or amicus curiae, Welts, White & Fontaine has the experience and expertise to help.