Thank you for taking the time to review the website for On-Point Paralegal Services, LLC. Our associates specialize in preparing appellate briefs and appendicies for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals at FLAT RATES.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reviews orders and judgments rendered from federal courts located in Alaska
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon and Washington.

Civil Appeal Docketing Statement.
The Civil Appeal Docketing Statement must be filed immediately after filing the Notice of Appeal or along therewith.

Transcripts.
Your adversary shall be notified of the transcripts you intend to order, or otherwise notified that you do not intend to order any. "This notice and statement shall be served on appellee and filed with this court within 10 calendar days of the filing of the notice of appeal or within 10 calendar days of the entry of an order disposing of the last timely filed motion of a type specified in Fed.R.App.P. 4(a)(4)." Ninth Circuit Local Rule 10-3.1(a). The motions referred to in FRAP 4(a)(4) provides as follows:

 Back to the Top

(4) Effect of a Motion on a Notice of Appeal.

(A) If a party timely files in the district court any of the following motions under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the time to file an appeal runs for all parties from the entry of the order disposing of the last such remaining motion:

(i) for judgment under Rule 50(b);

(ii) to amend or make additional factual findings under Rule 52(b), whether or not granting the motion would alter the judgment;

(iii) for attorney's fees under Rule 54 if the district court extends the time to appeal under Rule 58;

(iv) to alter or amend the judgment under Rule 59;

(v) for a new trial under Rule 59; or

(vi) for relief under Rule 60 if the motion is filed no later than 10 days after the judgment is entered.

Id.

 Back to the Top

Representation Statement.
Within 10 days of when the record is filed, the appellant must send a designation to all adversaries advising what the contents of the appendix will be and asking whether additional materials need to be added. FRAP 30(b)(1). The appellee then has 10 days to ask for additional materials to be included. FRAP 30(b)(1).

Transcripts.
"Within 30 days of the filing of the notice of appeal, appellant shall file a transcript order in the district court, using the district court's transcript designation form. Appellant shall simultaneously provide a copy of the designation form to the court reporter and the Court of Appeals." Ninth Circuit Local Rule 10-3.1(d). "If appellee notifies appellant that additional portions of the transcript are required pursuant to Ninth Circuit Local Rule 10-3.1(b), appellant shall make arrangements with the court reporter to pay for these additional portions unless appellant certifies that they are unnecessary to the appeal and explains why not." Ninth Circuit Local Rule 10-3.1(f).

If no transcripts need to be ordered, a statement to that effect should be filed with the USDC. "If the parties agree that no transcripts are necessary, appellant shall file in the district court a notice stating that no transcripts will be ordered, and provide copies of this notice to the court reporter and the Court of Appeals." Ninth Circuit Local Rule 10-3.1(c).

 Back to the Top

Appellant's initial brief is due within forty days after the filing of the trial court record on appeal. Fed. R. App. P. 31(a). In the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, that is the day that the district court clerk files the so-called "certificate of record." Ninth Circuit Local Rule 11-2. The Ninth Circuit, however, may choose to establish a briefing schedule by order. Ninth Circuit Local Rule 31-2.1(a). The cover of the appellant's initial brief shall be blue, the appellee's, red and the appellant’s reply brief shall be gray. Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(2).

The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure limit the amount of pages a brief may contain, or alternatively by word count. Briefs with a monospaced typeface are limited to 10.5 characters per inch. Briefs with a proportionally spaced typeface must include serifs and be 14-point or larger. Headings and captions may be in sans-serif type. All briefs must be double-spaced except that headings, footnotes and quotations more than two lines long may be single-spaced. An initial brief may not exceed thirty pages, fourteen thousand words, or one thousand three hundred lines if monospaced. A reply brief may not exceed half the type volume for an initial brief. Fed. R. App. P. 32. The brief shall include a "Certificate of Compliance" that confirms compliance with the type volume restrictions in a format that the Ninth Circuit has provided in its Form 8. All briefs must be on 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper. Margins must be at least one inch on all four sides.

 Back to the Top

The brief must contain the following in this order as per Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 29(a):

(a) Corporate disclosure statement identifying all parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliates of a party that have issued shares to the public;

(b) Table of contents;

(c) Table of authorities;

(d) Jurisdictional Statement setting forth the basis for subject matter jurisdiction in the district court, the basis for the claim that the issue is appealable, the statutory basis for jurisdiction in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the date of entry of the Order appealed from, the date of filing of the Notice of Appeal and the basis for claiming that the appeal is timely;

(e) Statement of the Issues Presented for Review. In this section, appellant must state where in the record the issue was raised below and identify the applicable standard of review. Ninth Circuit Local Rule 28-2.5;

(f) Statement of the Case, which indicates the nature of the case, the course of proceedings and the disposition in the trial court;

(g) Statement of the facts relevant to the issues submitted for review, with references to the record;

(h) Summary of the Argument;

(i) Legal Argument with citations to authorities and the parts of the record on which the appellant relies;

(j) A short conclusion stating the precise relief sought; and,

(k) A Certificate of Compliance as to the length of the brief.

 Back to the Top

The foregoing are the requirements set by the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Local Rules contain the following additional requirements:

(a) A statement identifying any related cases, or a statement that there are no related cases. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Local Rule 28-2.6; and,

(b) An addendum containing the relevant parts of any statutes, regulations or rules that bear upon the determination of the appeal. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Local Rule 28-2.7.

Appellee's brief must be served and filed within thirty days after service of appellant's initial brief, Fed. R. App. P. 31(a), but this is extended by three days if appellant's brief was served by mail. Fed. R. App. P. 26(c). Appellee's brief must adhere to the same format as appellant's initial brief except that the Statement of Jurisdiction may simply state appellee's agreement with appellant's statement, and the Statements of Issues, the Statement of the Case and the Standard of Review may be omitted if appellee does not disagree with appellant’s statements in those sections of its initial brief.

Appellant may serve and file a reply brief within fourteen days after service of appellee's brief, which is also extended by three days if appellee uses service by mail. Fed. R. App. P. 26(c), 31(a).

 Back to the Top