How to Write an Appellate Brief

Barrister Amna (Alevels Academy Islamabad)

1 year ago

A Level Academy Islamabad

Transcript

00:00The opportunity to appeal an unfavorable court decision is a golden one, and it cannot be wasted.

00:07An appeal is literally nothing without an appellate brief to go with it,

00:11because failure to provide one will lead to the appeal being dismissed.

00:15A brief is a document presented to the court arguing why one side should win and not the other.

00:21In the case of an appellate brief, it should argue why a decision either should or shouldn't be overturned.

00:27Knowing how to craft an appellate brief and what content to provide within it is crucial to your case.

00:33The brief should contain, in an organized manner, a concise statement of the case and facts,

00:39a summary of the argument, a standard of review,

00:42and, of course, your argument for why the original decision in the case should be overturned or upheld.

00:49But let's break down the appellate brief into its parts.

00:52The first thing after your cover page is a table of contents and the table of authorities,

00:58which is probably best to complete after the rest of the brief is finished.

01:01The contents table should contain a breakdown of the brief sections and which page number to find each one on.

01:07The authorities table is a list of any previous cases or legal authorities cited in the brief,

01:13indicating on which pages the cases can be found.

01:16Next should come your statement of the case and facts.

01:19This is a breakdown of the relevant history of the original proceedings,

01:23along with the material facts pertaining to the issue or issues at hand.

01:28Appeals cases are often won or lost on the facts presented,

01:31so make them as thorough, accurate, and compelling as possible, without being too argumentative.

01:37If certain important facts are disputed, say so.

01:41Next, you should include a statement of the standard of review for each issue.

01:46You can do this all in one section or separate each issue into their own sections.

01:50The proper standard of review can be complicated.

01:53Even attorneys get that wrong all the time.

01:56Your best bet is to find an appellate decision that talks about an issue such as yours,

02:00which you will need to have for your argument section anyway.

02:04There is a LegalYou video on how to find cases.

02:07Look for where the court says what standard of review they are using.

02:11It might be a strange word like de novo or abuse of discretion.

02:16A quick call to LegalYou can help make sure you use the right one.

02:20After this comes the heart of the brief, the argument.

02:24Part analysis, part logical exercise, and part presentation.

02:28The argument should focus on your strongest points,

02:31and each point should be broken down into its own heading,

02:34with subheadings that support the main point.

02:37You want to finish up naturally with a conclusion that tells the appellate judges

02:41what you would like them to do if they agree with you,

02:44such as reverse the trial court judgment.

02:47In Florida, you are also required to certify what font you used for your brief,

02:51typically 14-point Times New Roman.

02:54Also, in Florida, your first brief is limited to 50 pages.

02:58Not that you have to use that much or even want to.

03:02It's all right to keep your briefs the brief.

03:05If you are the one who filed the appeal, you get a second brief called a reply brief.

03:10At most, that can be 15 pages.

03:13Sometimes an instructional video isn't enough,

03:16so LegalYou also has example briefs, related resources, and live chat to make it enough.

03:21LegalYou, where you are your own best lawyer.

How to Write an Appellate Brief

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