Appellate Brief Formatting Rules: Typeface, Margins & Required Sections

Every appellate court — federal or state — enforces a formatting rule for briefs (FRAP 32 in the federal system, with each state maintaining its own equivalent). The clerk's office can reject non-conforming briefs, and even when a brief is accepted, sloppy formatting signals sloppy argument. Here is what these rules typically require, section by section.

Typeface, spacing, and margins

Appellate briefs follow a conservative, highly readable format:

• Typeface: a legible serif font — Times New Roman, 12–14 point, is the accepted standard in most courts.
• Line spacing: body text at 1.5 or double spacing (block quotations and footnotes may be single-spaced).
• Margins: one inch on all four sides.
• Page numbers: bottom-center of every page in most courts.
• Paper size: 8.5″ × 11″, text on one side only for paper filings.

The required sections — in order

A complete appellate brief typically contains, in this order:

1. Cover page — court name, full party caption, docket number, brief title, the court appealed from with the presiding judge, and counsel blocks for both sides.
2. Table of Contents — every heading and subheading with page numbers.
3. Table of Authorities — cases, statutes, rules, and constitutional provisions with the pages where each is cited.
4. Statement of the Case — nature of the case, course of proceedings, and disposition below.
5. Issues Presented on Appeal.
6. Argument — including the applicable standard of review for each issue.
7. Conclusion — the precise relief requested.
8. Certificate of Compliance — certifying the word count.
9. Signature block — attorney name, bar number, firm, and contact information.
10. Certificate of Service — who was served, how (U.S. Mail, hand delivery, or e-filing), and when.

The cover page trips up more filers than anything else

Many state supreme court cover pages use a distinctive two-column caption: the parties on the left (appellant on top, "vs.", respondent below), separated by a vertical rule from the docket number on the right. Below a horizontal rule sits the centered brief title, the "appeal from" recital naming the court below, and the presiding judge. Attorney contact blocks for both sides appear at the bottom, with the role label (Attorneys for Appellant / Respondent) underneath each block — not above it. Getting this layout right by hand in Word takes a surprising amount of table-wrangling.

Common formatting mistakes

• Table of Contents page numbers that no longer match after last-minute edits.
• Missing or stale Certificate of Compliance word counts.
• Authorities cited in the argument but missing from the Table of Authorities (or vice versa).
• Page numbers placed top-right when the court requires bottom-center.
• Cover captions that don't match the caption used in the trial court.

The fast way to comply

LegalBrief Pro applies all of the above automatically: upload a rough draft, tell it your jurisdiction, and it returns a court-ready DOCX and PDF with the correct cover layout, auto-generated Table of Contents and Table of Authorities, live word-count Certificate of Compliance, and Certificate of Service — modeled on real briefs filed with state supreme courts.