APPELLATE BRIEF PROCESS – LEGAL BRIEF PRINTING
At Cockle Legal Briefs we believe that Better Briefs Win. We strive to craft the highest quality briefs. We succeed because we are the only Supreme Court brief printer to proofread everything with teams of two professional readers. Our staff actively pursues an intimate knowledge of Court practices and conventions to ensure full compliance. Located in the heart of the nation, we are able to offer these expert services at a low cost to you.
Our appellate brief process is straightforward: you email us a draft of your appellate brief and the appendix (when applicable); our experts review your legal brief format for rule compliance and proofread for inconsistencies; you receive a proof for review; you call us to discuss your final edits before giving your approval to print; we then print and file your brief with the Court and opposing counsel. We also prepare your certificate of compliance and affidavit of service.
APPELLATE BRIEF PROCESS – PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
Review on a writ of certiorari is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion. Your petition will be granted only if you can demonstrate compelling reasons. Our team of experts will help prepare your petition by: advising which documents must be included in the appendix under Sup. Ct. R. 14.1 (i); reviewing your petition to confirm that it contains each Court-required section, including an in-depth review of your Questions Presented — a service no other printer offers; proofreading — using highly-skilled legal proofreaders; preparing and filing your certificate of compliance and affidavit of service; and posting your petition to our website, if requested, so amici, media, and the legal blogosphere can view and link to it. If cert. is granted, we can also help prepare your merits stage brief.
You do not need to worry about how your draft looks because we will typeset your document in our Cockle Style. You simply send us a Word or WordPerfect file with the text of the cover, the text of the index (don’t worry about the page numbers because we will fill those in when we create your proof), and the text of your brief. We take it from there.
APPELLATE BRIEF PROCESS – APPENDIX
Some documents—like Petitions—have required Appendix elements. Appendix documents cannot simply be photocopied, but must be typeset to the same standards as a Supreme Court brief. Supreme Court Rules do not limit the size of an Appendix, so the content of the Appendix is the biggest variable for your costs and printing schedule. That is why we ask you to email your Appendix documents to us right away. We will then: check to make sure you are not missing any required documents (Rule 14.1(i)); review to see if you are including extra material that could be eliminated; organize your Appendix documents according to the Rules; prepare an estimate and down payment request; and call you to discuss the composition and look of your Appendix.
Supreme Court Rule 14.1(i) describes the content and sequence of Petition appendices. Basically, you will need: 1) the final order of the last court that evaluated the merits of the issue; 2) the final order of the other courts below, back to the trial court; 3) the last court’s denial of rehearing or denial of review, if any; 4) the last judgment, if its date is different than the date of the last order; 5) verbatim statutory or constitutional excerpts, if you opt not to include those in the brief; and 6) any other material you believe will help the reader understand your Petition. If you are not sure about how Rule 14.1(i) applies to your case, give us a call.
With over 90 years of brief printing and filing experience, Cockle Legal Briefs can help you navigate both the written and unwritten rules of Supreme Court practice. Give us call to schedule your next Supreme Court filing.