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Appeals at the Supreme Court are heard by one judge; appeals at the Court of Appeal are heard by a panel of three judges. (Really important appeals are sometimes heard by a panel of five judges.) At the appeal hearing, the person who started the appeal, the ''appellant'', <span class="noglossary">will</span> go first and try to explain why the trial judge made a <span class="noglossary">mistake</span> about the law. The other party, the ''respondent'', <span class="noglossary">will</span> go next and explain why the trial judge appropriately considered the applicable legal principles and why the judge was right. The appellant will then be able to provide a short reply to the respondent's arguments. Sometimes the court is able to make a decision after hearing from each party but, like at trial, the court usually reserves its decision to think about the arguments that each side made.
The ''How Do I?[[JP Boyd on Family Law - Helpful Guides and Common Questions|Helpful Guides & Common Questions]]'' part of this resource has details about the procedures for making an appeal, under the heading ''Appealing a Decision''. You may want to look at these topics:
*''[[How Do I Appeal a Provincial Court Decision?]]''
*''[[How Do I Appeal an Interim Supreme Court Decision?]]''
If you do decide to represent yourself in a court proceeding, you have a responsibility to the other parties and to the court to learn about the law that applies to your proceeding and the procedural rules that govern common court processes, like document disclosure, and common court processes, like making and replying to interim applications.
A good start would be to read through the other sections in this chapter on [[The Court System for Family Matters]], [[The Law for Family Matters]], and [[You and Your Lawyer]], as well as the chapter section on [[The Court System for Family Matters]] within the [[Resolving Family Law Problems in Court]]chapter. You might also want to read a short note I've written for people who are representing themselves in a court proceeding, "[[Media:SRL_Bill_of_Rights_and_Responsibilities_-_November_2012_-_JP_Boyd.pdf|The Rights and Responsibilities of the Self-Represented Litigant]]" (PDF).
To find out what to expect in the courtroom, read
''[[How Do I Conduct Myself in Court at an Application?]]''. It's located in the Helpful Guides & Common Questions part of this resource, in the section [[JP Boyd on Family Law — How Do I?- Helpful Guides and Common Questions#Courtroom Protocol|Courtroom Protocol]].
Sometimes people begin a court action with a lawyer, and then start to represent themselves. If you do this, you need to notify the other parties and the court of the change. See ''[[How Do I Tell Everyone That I'm Representing Myself?]]''. It's located in the Helpful Guides & Common Questions part of this resource, in the section [[JP Boyd on Family Law — How Do I?- Helpful Guides and Common Questions#Other Litigation Issues | Other Litigation Issues]].
==Resources and links==