Appellate Division First Department - Appellant Brief
Appellate Division First Department - Appellant Brief
Brief Cover
All appellate briefs must have a stiff cover and be bound on the left hand side. In my experience most briefs will use a wrap around cover with perfecting binding. There are no color requirements, but most appellate brief covers for the Appellate Division First Department are printed on white card stock. No worries, there are appellate printing services that handle this…
The cover shall contain the following:
County Court Clerk’s Index Number(s)
Name of the attorney who will argue or submit the appellant’s brief
Appellate Division -First Department
Official caption with appellate desiginations
Title of the document (ex. Brief for Plaintiff–Appellant)
Name, Firm, Address, Phone Number, Party Designation & Email Address
Also, the cover must indicate that the appellate brief was printed on 50% recycled paper.
Formatting & Typeface
When you are preparing the appellate brief, the margins shall be at least 1 inch all around with line spacing set at double. Only footnotes, headings and indented quotations may be single space.
Words may not be in bold or ALL CAPS except in headings. In my experience, bold and ALL CAPS are allowed only when they appear that way in lower court documents.
The rules for typeface requirements are distinguished between proportional and monospaced fonts. Basically, proportional fonts have different widths between certain letters and monospaced fonts have the same width between all letters.
Here’s my recommendation for which typeface to use.
Time New Roman – A proportional spaced typeface.
The text of the brief shall be no less than 14 point, with the exception of footnotes, which shall be no less than 12 point. Headings shall be no greater than 15 point.
Courier New – A monospaced typeface.
The text of the brief shall be no less than 12 point, with the exception of footnotes, which shall be no less than 10 point. Headings shall be no greater than 14 point.
Word Limitations
The word count limitation is 14,000 words and does not include the table of contents, table of authorities, printing specifications statement, authorized addendum and pre-argument statement or CPLR 5531.
Contents of an Appellant Brief
Table of Contents
Table of Authorities
Questions Presented
Nature of the Case
Argument
Conclusion*
Printing Specification Statement
Pre-Argument Statement or CPLR 5531
No Attachments are allowed unless authorized by the Appellate Division First Department
* The conclusion page must be an original ink signature.
Service and Filing
All papers must be served and filed either by personal delivery or by mail. If sent by mail, they shall be considered served or filed only upon receipt. Each time service is made through the post office such service must be made at least 5 days prior to the due date.
In my experience, most appellate briefs are served and filed by personal delivery on the due date. Please note, if there are any out of town services, you should consider serving them the day before by overnight mail.
Serve: 2 paper copies + 1 electronic version via email
File : 8 paper copies + 1 electronic version via email
There are many factors in preparing your appellant brief for the Appellate Division First Department and making sure it’s done correctly the first time. There are appellate services that support law firms, appeal attorneys and the individual appellant, in organizing and preparing appellate briefs.
Appellate printers will have a staff of paralegal and appellate consultants that will assist in serving and filing the paper and electronic formats that comply with the rules and internal operating procedures of the Appellate Division First Department.
I hope this article has helped you out.
Brief Cover
All appellate briefs must have a stiff cover and be bound on the left hand side. In my experience most briefs will use a wrap around cover with perfecting binding. There are no color requirements, but most appellate brief covers for the Appellate Division First Department are printed on white card stock. No worries, there are appellate printing services that handle this…
The cover shall contain the following:
County Court Clerk’s Index Number(s)
Name of the attorney who will argue or submit the appellant’s brief
Appellate Division -First Department
Official caption with appellate desiginations
Title of the document (ex. Brief for Plaintiff–Appellant)
Name, Firm, Address, Phone Number, Party Designation & Email Address
Also, the cover must indicate that the appellate brief was printed on 50% recycled paper.
Formatting & Typeface
When you are preparing the appellate brief, the margins shall be at least 1 inch all around with line spacing set at double. Only footnotes, headings and indented quotations may be single space.
Words may not be in bold or ALL CAPS except in headings. In my experience, bold and ALL CAPS are allowed only when they appear that way in lower court documents.
The rules for typeface requirements are distinguished between proportional and monospaced fonts. Basically, proportional fonts have different widths between certain letters and monospaced fonts have the same width between all letters.
Here’s my recommendation for which typeface to use.
Time New Roman – A proportional spaced typeface.
The text of the brief shall be no less than 14 point, with the exception of footnotes, which shall be no less than 12 point. Headings shall be no greater than 15 point.
Courier New – A monospaced typeface.
The text of the brief shall be no less than 12 point, with the exception of footnotes, which shall be no less than 10 point. Headings shall be no greater than 14 point.
Word Limitations
The word count limitation is 14,000 words and does not include the table of contents, table of authorities, printing specifications statement, authorized addendum and pre-argument statement or CPLR 5531.
Contents of an Appellant Brief
Table of Contents
Table of Authorities
Questions Presented
Nature of the Case
Argument
Conclusion*
Printing Specification Statement
Pre-Argument Statement or CPLR 5531
No Attachments are allowed unless authorized by the Appellate Division First Department
* The conclusion page must be an original ink signature.
Service and Filing
All papers must be served and filed either by personal delivery or by mail. If sent by mail, they shall be considered served or filed only upon receipt. Each time service is made through the post office such service must be made at least 5 days prior to the due date.
In my experience, most appellate briefs are served and filed by personal delivery on the due date. Please note, if there are any out of town services, you should consider serving them the day before by overnight mail.
Serve: 2 paper copies + 1 electronic version via email
File : 8 paper copies + 1 electronic version via email
There are many factors in preparing your appellant brief for the Appellate Division First Department and making sure it’s done correctly the first time. There are appellate services that support law firms, appeal attorneys and the individual appellant, in organizing and preparing appellate briefs.
Appellate printers will have a staff of paralegal and appellate consultants that will assist in serving and filing the paper and electronic formats that comply with the rules and internal operating procedures of the Appellate Division First Department.
I hope this article has helped you out.