Circuit CourtsNot only can Cockle Legal Briefs help you prepare and file your Briefs in the United States Supreme Court, we can also help you prepare and file Appellate Briefs in the Second Circuit, the Fifth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, or any of the thirteen Federal Circuit Courts. The filing requirements in the thirteen Federal Circuit Courts are complex, and often confusing. In addition to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, each Circuit Court operates under its own set of local rules—mandatory practice standards that periodically change, and sometimes conflict with the Federal Rules—and, the various Clerks’ offices often adhere to unwritten practices and preferences that are distinctive to each Court. Below is a sampling of the consultation and printing services that we offer for our Circuit Court filers.

Circuit Court Document Review

A Circuit Court document must be filed in compliance with the Court’s rules as to length, formatting, and composition. Our Circuit Court experts are intimately familiar with each Circuit’s requirements. We can carefully examine your Brief, Motion, Appendix, Addendum, or Record Excerpts for compliance to ensure that your document will be accepted by the Clerk, and filed on time.

Circuit Court Proofreading

After decades of proofreading legal documents, we can confirm one basic human principle—everyone makes mistakes. The drafter must review all of the relevant elements of the case, research the applicable law, develop a coherent theory that relates the facts to the law, reduce the theory to a succinct, persuasive narrative, and finally, prepare a type-written draft. In that process, errors of form, grammar, spelling and consistency are bound to creep in. Our teams of professional proofreaders can comb through your draft, and note any possible problems that you may want to address before you present your completed work to the Court.

Circuit Court Typesetting

When filing a Brief in the Circuit Courts, it is important for the Brief to be prepared to the very highest possible standards of refinement and style. From cover through certificates, we can format your text, proofread the copy, send you an annotated proof for review, and make your corrections. We will then print, bind, file, and serve your document. Your typeset Brief, formatted in our distinctive Cockle Style, will let the Court, counsel, and clients know that your document has been prepared with the same level of care and professionalism as the argument it presents.

Circuit Court Consultation

If all you really need is to talk with someone—an expert who knows your Circuit’s requirements inside and out—then give us a call. We can schedule a time for you to speak with a consultant who is familiar with the Circuit (usually within an hour or two). We will ask for a reasonable consultation fee, and if you later decide to use one of our other services, we will apply the fee to those costs.

Circuit Court Printing, Binding, and Shipping

After all of the research, drafting, checking, and re-writing, in most instances your work is still not complete. The document must be printed onto the page, bound with the correct color cover, and delivered to the Court and to counsel. Why not let Cockle Legal Briefs do that for you? We will print your document (single- or double-sided, depending on the rules of that Court), insert tabs when required, prepare the cover in the proper color, bind the cover and pages, and ship the copies by a method and time frame that satisfy the Court’s requirements.

Expert advice and consultation from our knowledgeable Circuit Court Document Analysts can help you avoid pitfalls. Cockle Legal Briefs has been producing top quality legal documents for over 90 years, and our staff of professionals—experienced in the unique practices of each Circuit—can help you present a timely, rule-compliant, and impeccably prepared document. Give us a call to discuss our Circuit Court services. Depending on the options you choose, we can provide a cost estimate over the telephone and schedule a time for your documents to arrive.