After the pro se party has finished writing the brief, he or she must file the original signed brief with the appellate court and must also serve a copy of the brief to the opposing attorney (usually by mail or delivery). For serving a copy, the Florida Attorney General’s Office represents the State in criminal appeals, and an Assistant Attorney General will be the opposing attorney in criminal cases. The pro se appellant must complete the certificate of service at the end of the brief and indicate the day that the pro se party gave the brief to the prison authorities for mailing. For filing with the appellate court, most courts used to require pro se appellants to deliver the original and three copies of the brief to the appellate court. But now most appellate courts only require the original signed copy of the brief to be filed. This does not change the requirement that the pro se appellant still must also serve a copy of the brief to the opposing attorney.
