In preparing the jurisdictional brief, or any other briefs, in the Florida Supreme Court, a person should consult the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure, especially Rules 9.120 and 9.210, and Chapter 5 of this Handbook on Writing an Appellate Brief. A party is responsible for following all of the rules, whether or not they are specifically addressed in this Handbook. Again, this Handbook is a general guide and cannot cover all of the rules and requirements.
The same general rules for all brief apply to the jurisdictional brief. The brief shall be printed, typewritten, or duplicated on letter-size paper. The brief shall be submitted in either the Times New Roman 14-point font or Courier New 12-point font in black lettering, double spaced, with margins no less than one inch. Immediately following the certificate of service, the party seeking review in the supreme court must certify that the brief complies with the font requirements.
The brief on jurisdiction must not exceed 10 pages, not including the tables of contents and citations, the certificates of service and compliance, and the signature block for the brief’s author. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.210. It must contain the following sections and information, as further discussed in Chapter 5, Writing an Appellate Brief:
2. Table of Contents. This shall include a table of the sections of the brief listing the issues presented for review, with the referencing page number.
3. Table of Citations. This shall include an alphabetical listing of citations for all cases, statutes, rules, and other authorities relied upon in the brief, with the pages of the brief on which each citation appears. Refer to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.800 to determine the proper citation form.
4. Statement of the Case and the Facts. This shall include information pertaining to the reason for the appeal, the course of the proceedings, and the disposition in the lower tribunal. This portion must include references to the appropriate volume and pages of the record or transcript.
5. Summary of Argument. This is a condensed version of the argument made in the body of the brief and should seldom exceed 2 and never 5 pages.
6. Argument. This section explains why the Florida Supreme Court should review this matter. References should be made to cases, statutes, and rules showing why the Florida Supreme Court has authority to review the case.
7. Conclusion. The conclusion states the relief sought and should not be more than 1 page. What does the party want the Florida Supreme Court to do? What relief is being sought?
8. Certificate of Service. Sample language: “I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing was served by (mail/e-mail/delivery) on (Date of Mailing) to (Name, Address of opposing party).”
9. Certificate of Compliance. This is a certification of the font and size type used in the brief.
10. An appendix. The appendix should only contain a copy of the order or decision to be reviewed.
