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Briefs on Appeal The brief is a party's written
argument filed with the Court of Appeals. The brief argues why the
trial court made a mistake. It must include citations to the record
and to cases, rules, or statutes, to support that argument. The
briefs must comply with specific format and length requirements.
You can find these in App.R. 16 and Local Rule 7.
The appellant must file a brief in support of the
appellant's argument. The appellee, the party that won in the trial
court, may file a brief, but is not required to do so. If the
appellee files a brief, the appellant may file a reply a brief, a shorter
brief that responds to the appellee's argument.
Your brief must include an appendix that includes the
order from which you have appealed. You should not include other
documents or materials; the judges only want to see the order appealed
in the appendix. You also cannot add new evidence in the appendix
to the brief. The court of appeals can only consider evidence that
was presented to the trial court, and that evidence will be in the
record, so it should not be attached to your brief in the appendix.
You can learn about preparing your brief by viewing this
presentation - Guide to
Brief Preparation. You can also view a sample brief, with tips
about preparing your brief, here.
If your brief does not comply with the
Appellate Rules or this Court's Local Rules, this Court will file an
order giving you additional time to correct the problems. If you
do not respond to that order, the appeal may be dismissed. |
