RAP 10.4: PREPARATION AND FILING OF BRIEF BY PARTY
(a) Typing or Printing Brief. Briefs shall conform to the following requirements:
(1) An original and one legible, clean, and reproducible copy of the brief must be filed with the appellate court. The original brief should be printed or typed in black on 20-pound substance 8-1/2 by 11-inch white paper. Margins should be at least 2 inches on the left side and 1-1/2 inches on the right side and on the top and bottom of each page. The brief shall not contain any tabs, colored pages, or binding and should be stapled in the left-hand upper corner.
(2) The text of any brief typed or printed must appear double spaced and in print as 12 point or larger type in the following fonts or their equivalent: Times New Roman, Courier, CG Times, Arial, or in typewriter fonts, pica or elite. The same typeface and print size should be standard throughout the brief, except that footnotes may appear in print as 10 point or larger type and be the equivalent of single spaced.
Quotations may be the equivalent of single spaced. Except for material in an appendix, the typewritten or printed material in the brief shall not be reduced or condensed by photographic or other means.
(b) Length of Brief. A brief of appellant, petitioner, or respondent should not exceed 50 pages.
Appellant's reply brief should not exceed 25 pages. An amicus curiae brief, or answer thereto, should not exceed 20 pages. In a cross-appeal, the brief of appellant, brief of respondent/cross appellant, and reply brief of appellant/cross respondent should not exceed 50 pages and the reply brief of the cross appellant should not exceed 25 pages. For the purpose of determining compliance with this rule appendices, the title sheet, table of contents, and table of authorities are not included. For compelling reasons the court may grant a motion to file an over-length brief.
(c) Text of Statute, Rule, Jury Instruction, or the Like. If a party presents an issue which requires study of a statute, rule, regulation, jury instruction, finding of fact, exhibit, or the like, the party should type the material portions of the text out verbatim or include them by copy in the text or in an appendix to the brief.
(d) Motion in Brief. A party may include in a brief only a motion which, if granted, would preclude hearing the case on the merits. The answer to a motion within a brief may be made within the brief of the answering party in the time allowed for filing the brief.
(e) Reference to Party. References to parties by such designations as "appellant" and "respondent" should be kept to a minimum. It promotes clarity to use the designations used in the lower court, the actual names of the parties, or descriptive terms such as "the employee," "the injured person," and "the taxpayer."
(f) Reference to Record. A reference to the record should designate the page and part of the record.
Exhibits should be referred to by number. The clerk's papers should be abbreviated as "CP"; exhibits should be abbreviated as "Ex"; and the report of proceedings should be abbreviated as "RP." Suitable abbreviations for other recurrent references may be used.
(g) Citation Format. Citations should conform with the format prescribed by the Reporter of Decisions pursuant to GR 14(d). The format requirements of GR 14(a) - (b) do not apply to briefs filed in an appellate court.
(h) Unpublished Opinions. [Reserved. See GR 14.1.]
[Amended December 23, 2002; September 1, 2003; September 1, 2006; September 1, 2007; September 1, 2010]