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Appeals

Appellate Brief for Appellant

Drafting an appellate brief for appellant traditionally requires 12+ hours of intensive work—extracting facts from trial records, researching precedents, verifying citations, and ensuring jurisdiction-specific formatting compliance. Attorneys juggle multiple sections while manually cross-referencing page numbers, creating tables of authorities, and meeting strict court rules, often working late nights before filing deadlines.

Automation ROI

Time savings at a glance

Manual workflow40 hoursAverage time your team spends by hand
With CaseMark45 minutesDelivery time with CaseMark automation
EfficiencySave 48.0x time with CaseMark

The Problem

Drafting an appellate brief for appellant requires exhaustive review of trial records, precise legal research, and meticulous citation to create a persuasive argument for reversal. The process typically takes 30-40 hours of attorney time, with constant pressure to meet strict filing deadlines while ensuring every factual assertion is supported by record citations and every legal argument is backed by binding authority.

The CaseMark Solution

CaseMark analyzes your trial court record, identifies reversible errors, and generates a comprehensive appellate brief with proper jurisdiction statements, persuasive issue framing, detailed fact statements with record citations, and fully developed legal arguments. The AI applies the correct standard of review, cites controlling authority, and formats the brief to meet court rules—delivering a court-ready document in under an hour.

Key benefits

How CaseMark automations transform your workflow

Generate complete appellate briefs with all required sections in 15 minutes

Automated legal research finds, cites, and verifies relevant precedents and authorities

AI extracts key facts and procedural history directly from trial records

Jurisdiction-specific formatting ensures compliance with local court rules

Auto-generated tables of contents and authorities with accurate page references

What you'll receive

Title Page
Table of Contents
Table of Authorities
Jurisdictional Statement
Statement of Issues
Statement of the Case
Summary of Argument
Argument
Conclusion
Certificate of Compliance
Certificate of Service

Document requirements

Required

  • Trial Court Judgment or Order
  • Notice of Appeal
  • Trial Transcript or Hearing Recording

Optional

  • Trial Court Pleadings
  • Trial Exhibits
  • Trial Court Opinion
  • Docket Sheet

Perfect for

Appellate attorneys handling civil appeals
Trial attorneys preparing first appeal
Solo practitioners with limited appellate experience
Litigation associates assigned appellate work
Public defenders handling criminal appeals
Civil rights attorneys appealing adverse rulings

Also useful for

This workflow is applicable across multiple practice areas and use cases

Criminal Defense95% relevant

Criminal defense attorneys regularly appeal convictions and adverse rulings, requiring appellate briefs to challenge trial court errors, evidentiary rulings, and sentencing decisions.

The workflow explicitly targets public defenders handling criminal appeals, and criminal cases generate substantial appellate work challenging constitutional violations, procedural errors, and sufficiency of evidence.

Commercial litigators appeal breach of contract rulings, business tort verdicts, preliminary injunction denials, and summary judgment orders in complex business disputes.

Commercial litigation involves high-value disputes where parties routinely appeal adverse rulings on contract interpretation, fiduciary duties, and business relationship claims requiring sophisticated appellate briefing.

Employment attorneys appeal adverse summary judgment rulings, jury verdicts, and injunction decisions in discrimination, wrongful termination, and wage-hour cases.

Employment litigation frequently involves appeals of dispositive motions and trial outcomes, with complex legal standards requiring thorough appellate briefing on statutory interpretation and evidentiary issues.

Family Law82% relevant

Family law practitioners appeal custody determinations, property division orders, spousal support rulings, and child support modifications that require detailed appellate advocacy.

Family law generates high appeal volumes due to emotionally-charged disputes and discretionary trial court rulings, with appeals often challenging abuse of discretion and evidentiary findings.

Personal Injury78% relevant

Personal injury attorneys appeal unfavorable jury verdicts, summary judgments on liability, evidentiary rulings excluding expert testimony, and inadequate damage awards.

Personal injury cases frequently proceed to appeal when substantial damages are at stake, challenging jury instructions, comparative fault determinations, and admissibility of medical evidence.

Frequently asked questions

Q

What documents do I need to upload to generate an appellate brief?

A

At minimum, you need the trial court's final judgment or order, your notice of appeal, and the trial transcript. CaseMark works best when you also upload trial pleadings, exhibits, and any written opinions from the trial court. The AI analyzes these documents to extract facts, identify errors, and build persuasive arguments with proper record citations.

Q

How does CaseMark determine the standard of review for each issue?

A

CaseMark analyzes the nature of each issue you're appealing—whether it involves legal questions, factual findings, or discretionary rulings—and applies the appropriate standard of review based on controlling law in your jurisdiction. The AI explains whether de novo, abuse of discretion, or clear error review applies, and frames arguments accordingly to maximize persuasive impact.

Q

Can the AI format my brief to comply with specific court rules?

A

Yes. CaseMark generates briefs formatted to meet federal appellate rules or specific state court requirements, including proper margins, fonts, page limits, and required sections. The output includes a table of contents, table of authorities, certificates of compliance and service, and all other technical components required for filing.

Q

How long does it take to generate a complete appellate brief?

A

CaseMark typically generates a comprehensive, court-ready appellate brief in 30-45 minutes after you upload your documents and provide case details. This replaces the 30-40 hours traditionally required for manual drafting, allowing you to focus on refining arguments and strategy rather than starting from scratch.

Q

Will the brief include citations to the trial record?

A

Absolutely. CaseMark automatically generates precise citations to the trial transcript, exhibits, and other record documents for every factual assertion in the statement of facts and argument sections. The AI includes page and line numbers where applicable, ensuring your brief meets appellate standards for record support.