A written appeal letter is an appropriate document when there is some kind of objection to a decision that has been made. In a legal context, an appeal letter can be drafted by a lawyer as an appeal to lawmakers to overturn a decision that currently defines some aspects of local law. In a business context, an appeal letter can be issued by a supplier to a vendor in hopes of restoring a lost working relationship or as a means for an employee to petition an employer to reverse a recent change in procedure. Essentially, an appeal letter is simply an attempt to have an authority reconsider an action or decision that has taken place.
The actual format of an appeal letter is very simple and straightforward. With very few changes from one setting to another, this basic format works equally well for inviting local officials to revoke a recent decision to convert a one-way street into a two-way street as it does for an employee asking an employer to reconsider a recent change to a vacation policy. In all cases, the appeal letter should be typed rather than handwritten and should be structured in standard business letter form.
The opening paragraph of an appeal letter establishes who is writing the letter and what relationship the writer has with the issue that will be addressed. The first paragraph, in addition to establishing the identity of the writer, also clearly identifies the matter at hand. Once these two facts have been firmly established, the writer can move on to argue their case.
During the second paragraph of the written appeal, the writer briefly reviews the nature of the issue that is of concern. Key facts should be laid out as clearly as possible, without any attempt to introduce emotion into the presentation of the facts. Using a bulleted format as part of this paragraph can be helpful in drawing particular attention to the logic behind the current decision.
After establishing the facts used to arrive at the current decision, the appeal letter moves on to initiate the case for reconsideration of that decision. Here the writer will use other facts to refute the basis of the original decision. The idea is to provide sufficient reason to take a second look at the decision by examining the information previously used along with these new pieces of information that are brought to attention in the appeal letter. Like the second paragraph, this section of the appeal letter may use bullet points to draw attention to particularly relevant facts for the situation.
The concluding paragraph of the appeal letter should simply summarize the writer’s position and urge the recipient of the letter to consider all the facts presented as a basis for overturning the current decision. All verbosity used in this paragraph should be aimed at promoting a fair and impartial approach to the reevaluation, without generating negative perceptions about anyone who was involved in the decision now being challenged. In fact, it is important that an appeal letter remain relatively free from any kind of emotion that suggests a lack of intelligence or attention to detail on the part of anyone involved in making the original decision. The purpose of an appeal letter is not to denigrate the abilities or thought processes of another person or group of people. For this reason, the author of an appeal letter should limit any emotional verbosity to descriptions of their support for a review of the decision.
It is also important that the concluding paragraph of the appeal letter provide guidance on how the reader can contact the writer for further interaction on the issue. Regardless of the nature of the problem at hand, thanking the reader for their time is essential in maintaining a professional attitude.
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