1.2 Briefing Rules

• Library: A Guide to Legal Research in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2017 Ed.)

1.2 BRIEFING RULES

1.201 Sources. Parts 5 and 5A of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia contain detailed rules governing the preparation and format of briefs for filing in the Supreme Court (part 5) and the Court of Appeals (part 5A) of Virginia. Similarly detailed rules for briefs in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit are found in the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, as supplemented by the local rules of the Fourth Circuit and the Fourth Circuit's internal operating procedures.

The Virginia appellate rules are published in Volume 11 of the Code of Virginia 1950, Annotated and in the Virginia rules volume of Michie's Jurisprudence of Virginia and West Virginia. The federal appellate rules, together with the related local rules and internal operating procedures of the Fourth Circuit, are published in volume 2 of the federal rules volumes of Michie's Jurisprudence. Both the state and federal rules are reprinted annually in a paperbound volume titled Virginia Rules Annotated (LexisNexis). The state rules are available online at www.courts.state.va.us/courts/scv/rulesofcourt.pdf. The federal materials are available online at www.ca4.uscourts.gov/pdf/RULES.pdf.

All of these briefing rules are highly technical, detailed, and subject to change. Consequently, they must be reread each time papers governed by them are prepared.

1.202 Principal Elements of Briefs. The Virginia and federal appellate rules roughly...