This article was updated in Sept. 2026 to reflect current court rules.
Preparing an appendix is complicated
Navigating the appellate process can be daunting, especially for attorneys who don’t frequently handle appeals.
One crucial component of a successful appeal is the appendix to the appellate brief, which provides the appellate court with essential records from the lower court proceedings, allowing the judges to review the case accurately and efficiently.
Preparing appendices is an inherently complex process due to the varying rules and guidelines across circuits, as well as the time-consuming nature of Bates-stamping, merging PDFs, splitting exhibits into volumes, and creating indexes or tables of contents.
If you don’t follow the specific rules for the court in which you’re filing, if a document is omitted, or you don’t follow the required order precisely, you may need to rebuild the entire appendix from scratch—which only makes preparing these types of documents more burdensome.
FRAP guidelines regarding appendices
You’ll find General Provisions regarding an appendix in Rule 30 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (commonly referred to as The FRAP), and the proper format for an appendix is detailed in Rule 32.
However, each U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also has its own specific rules regarding what must be included in an appendix and how it should be formatted. You need to understand and follow all applicable requirements to the letter in order to ensure that your appeal is considered on its merits—instead of being rejected for procedural non-compliance.
Below, we provide a streamlined checklist for creating a compliant appellate brief appendix. We cover the general elements that should be included and highlight any variations and specific requirements for different circuit courts.
Whether you’re an experienced appellate attorney, or someone who only handles appeals occasionally, this guide will help you navigate the complexities of preparing a compliant appendix for your next appellant brief.
FRAP 30 appendix checklist: core requirements
While there are circuit-specific variations that we’ll get into in a minute, FRAP 30(a)(1) identifies four basic categories of material that must generally be included in an appendix:
- Relevant docket entries: Include the relevant entries from the proceeding below.
- Relevant portions of pleadings, the charge, findings, or opinion: Include the portions needed for the court to understand and decide the issues on appeal.
- The judgment, order, or decision in question: Include the decision being appealed or reviewed.
- Other relevant portions of the record: Include other parts of the record to which the parties wish to direct the court’s attention.
Depending on the issues in the appeal, that fourth category may encompass transcript excerpts, significant pleadings, exhibits, motions, orders, or other record material. However, those documents are not universally required in every appendix. FRAP 30 also cautions against including unnecessary material.
Appendix formatting requirements
As for format, FRAP 30(d) requires the appendix to begin with a table of contents, followed by the relevant docket entries. Other portions of the record generally follow in chronological order.
FRAP 28(e) requires references in a brief to material contained in the appendix to cite the pages of the appendix. The federal rules do not impose a universal Bates-numbering requirement; individual circuits may establish their own pagination and citation systems.
Relevant statutes, rules, and regulations are addressed separately by FRAP 28(f). When the court needs to study them to decide the issues presented, the relevant provisions must be included in the brief, an addendum, or a separate pamphlet.
Circuit-specific requirements for preparing an appendix
As mentioned earlier, to avoid rejection, it’s vital that your appendix is properly compiled, formatted, paginated, and bound in accordance with your court’s specific requirements.
But here’s where things get a bit more complicated…
Some circuits require additional elements beyond what’s required by the FRAP. Some want the elements attached in a slightly different order or with different pagination than the FRAP guidelines. Some circuits actually require you to name the appendix something other than “Appendix”.
Here are some of the most notable circuit court rules that diverge from the FRAP. While it’s not a comprehensive list, it highlights how the rules vary among the circuits.
Fourth Circuit: The court calls the filing a “Joint Appendix” (JA) and encourages the parties to agree on its contents. Volume 1 of a multivolume JA must contain all decisions being appealed, reviewed, or collaterally challenged and shouldn’t contain any other material. Volume 1 and later volumes are generally organized chronologically. For a single-volume JA, those decisions come first, followed by the remaining documents in chronological order. Citations to the JA must follow the same format used for its Bates pagination: JA123, JA 123, J.A.123, or J.A. 123, without volume numbers or dashes. See more in Rule 30. Appendix to the Briefs and Fourth Circuit Appendix Pagination & Brief Citation Guide.
Fifth Circuit: Appeals from district courts and the Tax Court are decided on the original “Record on Appeal” (ROA), and the appellant files “Record Excerpts” with the intention primarily to assist the judges in making the screening decision on the need for oral argument and in preparing for oral argument; only include parts of the record that will assist in this. The table of contents of your Record Excerpts must include the original ROA pages for each document being included. Citations to the record in your brief should be to the ROA page numbers, i.e., “ROA.123” or “ROA.123-145”. See Fifth Cir. R. 30.
Sixth Circuit: You often don’t need an appendix when filing in the Sixth Circuit. Under Sixth Circuit Rule 30, an appendix is required only in specified circumstances; in other cases, an appendix is unnecessary and must not be filed because the court has access to the district court’s electronic record. For district court appeals, an appendix generally is required when specified material is not part of that electronic record. Sixth Cir. R. 30 details the other circumstances in which an appendix is required. See the Sixth Circuit Appendix Checklist.
Ninth Circuit: The appellant or petitioner generally files “Excerpts of Record” (ER) or files “Supplemental Excerpts of Record” (SER) when the answering brief cites documents or portions of documents not included in the initial ER, or when no initial excerpts were required because the appellant or petitioner was exempt.
The ER can be a single volume if it is 300 pages or fewer and contains no sealed material; otherwise, a separate Index Volume and multiple volumes are required. For multivolume excerpts, Volume 1 contains only the decisions being appealed, reviewed, or challenged. Other relevant documents generally appear in reverse chronological order, with the notice of appeal and docket sheet at the end of the last non-sealed volume and the docket sheet last. Citations should follow the format [volume number]-ER-[page number], such as 1-ER-12; the volume number is omitted for single-volume excerpts. See the Ninth Circuit instructions for Excerpts of Record and FRAP Ninth Circuit Rules.
Tenth Circuit: When an appellant is represented by retained counsel, or is an attorney representing themselves, the record on appeal generally takes the form of an “Appendix” prepared by the appellant. Appeals involving appointed counsel use a designated record instead, while the court prepares the record in ordinary pro se cases. Each appendix volume must have a white cover identifying its volume number; Roman numerals are not required. References to the appendix within the brief should identify the volume and page number, e.g., App. Vol. 2 at 27 or Supp. App. Vol. 2 at 14. See the FRAP Tenth Circuit Rules and Tenth Circuit Briefing and Appendix Checklist for Counseled Cases.
Eleventh Circuit: The Index must be the first item in the Appendix, followed by the district court or Tax Court docket sheet as the second item. The remaining documents generally must be arranged chronologically according to the date they were entered into the record. Tab numbers should correspond to the original document numbers assigned by the originating court or agency. Citations in the brief must be to the document number and page number rather than separate Bates-stamped appendix pagination—for example, Doc 47 – Pg 5. See the Eleventh Circuit Instructions on Making Proper Record References and Instructions for Preparing an Appendix.
Save time preparing your appellate brief appendix
If you’d rather spend your time sharpening your argument and preparing for court—instead of poring over the relevant circuit court rules and then performing the many steps needed to create a compliant appendix—look to legaltech solutions, such as TypeLaw, to help.
TypeLaw’s proprietary AI knows all the relevant rules for preparing a compliant appendix for any U.S. Circuit Court and can quickly build one for you using your exhibits.
We can automatically compile your exhibits into the required volumes, build your indexes or tables of contents, Bates-stamp when needed, add electronic bookmarks, and everything else required for a compliant appendix (or whatever your court calls it)—saving you countless hours of frustration and hassle. We can also accurately format and hyperlink your brief.
Better appendices. Better briefs. Better outcomes.
By following the specific circuit court requirements, you can create a compliant appendix for your next appellate brief. If you’d rather not take the time to DIY, TypeLaw is here to help.
Requirements change, so we recommend that you always check the latest rules and guidelines provided by the court in which you’re filing. They are typically available on the court’s website.
