What is a direct appeal?

A direct appeal is a process through which a party asks a higher court to review the decisions made by the trial court in a particular case. The main focus and purpose of this review is to determine whether the trial court was correct in its reasoning, procedure, and/or determination. Even if there was some error by the trial court, part of the function of a direct appeal is also to determine whether this error had an impact on the case in a meaningful way.