All too often I receive a call from a potential appellate client who wants me to make a judgment call on his appeal over the telephone. I imagine that I lose a lot of appellate business on these calls because I try to explain how impossible it is to play armchair quarterback without knowing the facts of the case. Below are a few quotes that demonstrate the truth that, even with appeals, the facts remain supreme. It may sound paradoxical, but most contentions of law are won or lost on the facts. The facts often incline a judge to one side or the other. A large part of the time of conference is given to discussion of facts, to determine under what rule of…