Short answer. Your trial counsel and guardian ad litem continue representing you on appeal by default — Rule 44, Section 2 carries them over automatically. If a new counsel or guardian appears or is appointed, notice must be served immediately on the adverse party and filed with the court.
What the law says
The counsel and guardians ad litem of the parties in the court of origin shall be respectively considered as their counsel and guardians ad litem in the Court of Appeals.
Rule 44, Section 2 — Counsel and guardians. Read the full provision →
What the law says
When others appear or are appointed, notice thereof shall be served immediately on the adverse party and filed with the court.
Rule 44, Section 2 — Counsel and guardians. Read the full provision →
Continuity of representation by default
A party does not have to re-engage counsel simply because the case moved up a level. Section 2 provides that the counsel and guardians ad litem of the parties in the court of origin shall be respectively considered as their counsel and guardians ad litem in the Court of Appeals. Whoever represented you at trial continues to represent you on appeal unless something changes.
Switching counsel still requires notice
The default continuity does not mean a change of lawyer is invisible to the process. When others appear or are appointed, notice thereof shall be served immediately on the adverse party and filed with the court. A new counsel entering the case must make that substitution known promptly, both to the opposing side and to the Court of Appeals itself.
Why this matters practically
Because service of pleadings, notices, and orders is typically directed to counsel of record, an unnoticed change in representation risks papers going to the wrong lawyer. Keeping the notice requirement satisfied protects both the party changing counsel and the opposing party, who needs to know exactly who to serve going forward, and it protects the court's own docket from confusion about who currently appears for whom.
What happens if notice is skipped
The rule frames the notice duty as immediate, not something that can wait until the next scheduled filing. If a new counsel appears without giving that notice, the previous counsel of record may remain the one the court and the adverse party continue serving, since nothing in Section 2 shifts that status automatically just because a new lawyer has started working on the file. That mismatch can leave a party effectively unrepresented in the court's own records even while new counsel is actively handling the appeal.
Who this covers and its limits
Section 2 binds both parties to the appeal — it carries over counsel and guardians ad litem for the appellant and the appellee alike, without needing either side to file anything just to confirm the carryover. What it does not do is validate a change of counsel that skips the notice step; the section conditions recognition of new counsel on that notice being served on the adverse party and filed with the court, so an unnoticed substitution does not automatically bind the opposing side to serve the new lawyer. It also does not address withdrawal of counsel altogether, which is governed by separate rules on substitution and withdrawal rather than by this carryover provision.
Related provisions
- Rule 44, Section 2 — Counsel and guardians
- Rule 44, Section 1 — Title of cases
- Rule 44, Section 3 — Order of transmittal of record