The standard of review in which an appellate court reviews the decision of a lower court anew as if the lower court had not rendered a decision. The appellate court views the case as if it were brought to the court for the first time. Under a de novo standard, the appellate court gives no deference to the district court's conclusions. Instead, the appellate court reviews the case from the same position as the district court.

An appellate court uses the de novo standard of review when reviewing a lower court's conclusions of law (see, for example, Chevron Corp. v. Naranjo, 667 F.3d 232, 239 (2d Cir. 2012)). An appellate court also generally reviews mixed questions of law and fact under a de novo standard of review (see, for example, Atateks Foreign Trade Ltd. v. Private Label Sourcing, LLC, 402 F. App'x 623, 625 (2d Cir. 2010)).