The Volokh Conspiracy

Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent

Crime

Samples of professionally formatted (and expertly written) appellate briefs

|The Volokh Conspiracy |


When I file a brief in a jurisdiction that's new to me, I like to see samples of what such briefs—filed by top-notch practitioners—customarily look like. The relevant rules of appellate procedure are obviously the first place to start, but there are lots of formatting customs about which the rules are silent. It helps to see what is done by experts who have the resources and inclination to produce carefully formatted and edited work.

One resource that I've long used, and that has recently been reorganized and updated, is Mayer Brown LLP's appellate.net brief bank. (Mayer Brown is the firm for which I'm a part-part-part-part-time Academic Affiliate.) If you go to this page, you can search for cases by jurisdiction (and, if you'd like, by keyword); once you get the list of the briefs, click on "Read" and you'll see the full PDF. Very helpful; check it out if you're drafting something for an unfamiliar court, whether you are a lawyer, a law student, or a law professor.