By the Templateez Team · Licensed Attorney · June 2026

Appellate Practice Intake Forms: What to Capture Before Filing the Brief

Appellate practice is a fundamentally different discipline from trial work. The record is closed. The facts are fixed. The question is no longer what happened — it is whether the trial court committed reversible error in how it handled what happened. That shift changes everything about what an attorney needs to collect at intake, because the information that drives an appeal is not the same information that drives a trial.

An appellate attorney who takes on a case without a thorough intake is walking into a brief with incomplete knowledge of the record, unconfirmed deadlines, and no clear picture of which issues are preserved and which are dead on arrival. A structured appeals intake form captures the full procedural history, the trial record status, the viable appellate issues, and the client's expectations — all before the first hour of research begins. Here is what that form needs to include.

Case posture: where the case stands right now

The single most time-sensitive piece of information in any appellate intake is the procedural posture of the case. Appeals run on jurisdictional deadlines that are absolute — miss the notice of appeal filing window and no amount of good lawyering recovers the right to appeal. Your intake must capture:

• Trial court — full name, county, state, or federal district. This determines which appellate court has jurisdiction, which rules of appellate procedure apply, and which local rules govern formatting, page limits, and filing mechanics.
• Case number — the trial court docket number. You need this to pull the docket, order transcripts, and file the notice of appeal.
• Trial judge — name of the judge who presided. This matters for recusal issues, for understanding how the judge handles particular legal questions, and for assessing whether the appellate court is likely to defer to this judge's discretionary rulings.
• Verdict or judgment date — the date the final judgment was entered. This is the clock-start for the notice of appeal deadline. Not the date the jury returned a verdict — the date the court entered judgment on the docket. These are often different dates, and confusing them can be fatal.
• Type of disposition — jury verdict, bench trial, summary judgment, dismissal (with or without prejudice), default judgment, guilty plea, or sentencing after trial. Each disposition type creates different appellate issues and different standards of review.
• Sentence — if criminal: incarceration (facility, length, mandatory minimums), probation (terms, duration), fines, restitution, special conditions. Sentencing errors are a distinct category of appellate issue with their own body of law.
• Post-trial motions — were any filed? JNOV (judgment notwithstanding the verdict), motion for new trial, motion for reconsideration — dates filed, dates ruled on, and outcomes. Post-trial motions can toll the appeal deadline in many jurisdictions, which means the filing window depends on whether a motion was pending and when it was resolved.
• Notice of appeal — has it been filed? If yes, the filing date and docket entry. If no, what is the deadline? This is the most critical field on the entire form. In most state courts, the deadline is 30 days from entry of judgment or denial of a post-trial motion. In federal criminal cases, it is 14 days. Miss it and the appeal is gone — there is no motion to extend in most jurisdictions for a late-filed notice of appeal.
• Appeal number — if the appeal has already been docketed, capture the appellate case number.
• Appellate court — intermediate court of appeals, state supreme court, or federal circuit. Identify the specific court and panel assignment if known.
• Bond status — has an appeal bond been posted? A supersedeas bond? Is the judgment stayed pending appeal, or is the opposing party currently enforcing it? In civil cases, a judgment creditor can begin collection while the appeal is pending unless a bond stays enforcement. In criminal cases, is the client incarcerated pending appeal or out on bail?

Trial record: assembling what the appellate court will actually see

An appellate court decides the case on the record — not on what the client remembers, not on what the attorney thinks happened, but on what is documented in the trial court file and transcripts. Your intake must establish the status of every component of that record:

• Trial transcript — has it been ordered from the court reporter? Has it been received? Is it complete or partial? If the trial lasted multiple days, are all days covered? The transcript is the backbone of the appeal. Without it, you cannot identify preserved errors, quote the record in your brief, or respond to the appellee's characterization of what happened.
• Trial exhibits — a full list of admitted exhibits, where they are currently located (with the court clerk, with trial counsel, with the client), and whether they need to be included in the appellate appendix.
• Motions and briefs — key pretrial motions (motions in limine, motions to suppress, summary judgment briefing) and trial motions. These are where preservation happens — if an issue was raised in a motion, briefed, argued, and ruled on, it is preserved. If it was not, it may not be.
• Jury instructions — the instructions given to the jury and any instructions that were requested but refused. Jury instruction error is one of the most common grounds for appeal, and the comparison between what was requested, what was given, and what should have been given is central to briefing.
• Verdict form — the actual form the jury used. Ambiguities or errors in the verdict form can be independent grounds for appeal.
• Sentencing transcript — if criminal, the sentencing hearing transcript is separate from the trial transcript and must be specifically ordered.
• Pre-sentence report — if criminal, the PSR (pre-sentence investigation report) contains the guidelines calculation, criminal history, and the probation officer's sentencing recommendation. Guidelines errors are a frequent basis for sentencing appeals.

If the client is coming from a criminal defense matter, much of this record information should already exist in the trial file — but it needs to be independently verified by appellate counsel, because trial counsel's file is not always complete or organized for appellate purposes.

Issues for appeal: separating what is viable from what is not

This is the analytical core of the appellate intake. Not every trial error is an appellate issue. Not every appellate issue is a winning one. And not every argument the client wants to make is one the attorney can ethically or strategically pursue. Your intake form should structure the issue identification process:

• Preserved errors — what objections were made at trial and ruled on by the court? Preservation is the threshold question. If trial counsel objected, stated the legal basis for the objection, and the court ruled, the issue is preserved for de novo or abuse-of-discretion review depending on the nature of the ruling.
• Unpreserved errors — issues that were not objected to at trial can only be raised under a plain error standard (or structural error, in limited circumstances). Plain error requires showing that the error was clear, affected substantial rights, and seriously affected the fairness or integrity of the proceedings. The standard of review is dramatically harder, and the client needs to understand that at intake.
• Constitutional issues — due process violations, equal protection claims, First Amendment issues, Fourth Amendment search and seizure problems, Sixth Amendment right-to-counsel or confrontation clause issues. Constitutional errors often receive closer appellate scrutiny and may qualify for structural error analysis.
• Evidentiary issues — wrongful admission or exclusion of evidence. Was a hearsay objection sustained when the testimony was admissible? Was prejudicial evidence admitted over objection? Was expert testimony admitted without proper foundation?
• Jury instruction errors — an instruction that was given but misstated the law, or a correct instruction that was requested and refused. The comparison between the instruction given and the correct statement of law is the briefing framework.
• Sentencing errors — if criminal: guidelines miscalculation, failure to consider statutory sentencing factors, procedurally unreasonable sentence, substantively unreasonable sentence.
• Sufficiency of the evidence — was there legally sufficient evidence to support the verdict? This is reviewed under a highly deferential standard (viewing evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict), which means it is rarely a winning issue standing alone — but it must be evaluated.
• Abuse of discretion — trial court's discretionary rulings on discovery, evidence, sanctions, or trial management that were arbitrary, unreasonable, or based on an erroneous legal standard.
• Legal error — misapplication of substantive law, incorrect interpretation of a statute, or application of the wrong legal standard. Pure legal errors receive de novo review, which is the most favorable standard for an appellant.
• Procedural errors — jurisdiction, venue, standing, mootness, ripeness. These are threshold issues that can be dispositive regardless of the merits.

For cases involving commercial litigation, the appellate issues often center on contract interpretation (reviewed de novo), monetary award calculations (reviewed for clear error or abuse of discretion), and discovery sanctions — each with its own standard of review and briefing framework.

Standard of review: the framework that determines everything

Every appellate issue is evaluated through a standard of review, and the standard often matters more than the merits of the argument. An issue reviewed de novo gives the appellant a fair shot. An issue reviewed for plain error is almost certainly a loss. Your intake should identify the applicable standard for each issue the client wants to raise:

• De novo — legal questions reviewed fresh, with no deference to the trial court. This is the best standard for an appellant — the appellate court decides the legal question independently.
• Abuse of discretion — discretionary rulings (evidentiary decisions, discovery orders, sanctions) reviewed under a highly deferential standard. The appellant must show the trial court's decision was so unreasonable that no reasonable judge could have reached it. This is a difficult standard to meet.
• Clearly erroneous — factual findings by a judge in a bench trial. The appellate court defers to the trial court's factual determinations unless they are clearly wrong. This is deferential — the appellate court does not reweigh the evidence.
• Substantial evidence — the standard for administrative appeals. Was there substantial evidence in the record to support the agency's decision? This is also deferential.
• Plain error — the standard for unpreserved errors. The error must be obvious, affect substantial rights, and seriously affect the fairness of the proceedings. Very few issues survive plain error review.
• Harmless error analysis — even if the appellate court finds error, it must determine whether the error was harmless. In civil cases, this means the error did not affect the outcome. In criminal cases, the government must prove the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt (for constitutional errors) or that it did not affect substantial rights (for non-constitutional errors). An issue can be meritorious and still lose on harmless error.

Mapping each issue to its standard of review at the intake stage is what separates a focused, persuasive brief from a scattershot filing that raises ten issues and wins none. The intake form should force this analysis early.

Briefing schedule and court-specific rules

Appellate practice is governed by rigid procedural calendars. Missing a briefing deadline without leave of court can result in dismissal of the appeal or waiver of arguments. Your intake should capture the current schedule and the rules that govern it:

• Opening brief deadline — the appellant's deadline for filing the opening brief. This is typically set by court order or by the rules of appellate procedure after the record is designated and transmitted.
• Response brief deadline — the appellee's deadline, which is usually a fixed period after service of the opening brief.
• Reply brief deadline — the appellant's opportunity to respond to the appellee's arguments. Not always permitted; length is usually shorter than the opening brief.
• Page and word limits — these are court-specific and strictly enforced. Federal circuits typically use word limits (13,000 words for an opening brief under FRAP 32). State courts vary widely — some use page limits, some use word limits, and local rules may impose additional restrictions.
• Appendix and record excerpts — what portions of the record must be included in the appendix? Some courts require a joint appendix; others allow separate appendices. The rules about what must and must not be included are detailed and jurisdiction-specific.
• Citation format — Bluebook, state-specific citation manual, or court-specific formatting rules. Some state courts require parallel citations (official and regional reporter). Getting citation format wrong signals to the court that appellate counsel is unfamiliar with the jurisdiction.
• Oral argument — has it been requested, scheduled, or waived? In many appellate courts, oral argument is granted at the court's discretion. The intake should note whether the client wants argument requested and whether the case warrants it.

Client expectations: the conversation most appellate attorneys avoid

Appellate clients — particularly those coming off a trial loss — often arrive with expectations that do not match the reality of appellate practice. Your intake is where you document the realistic assessment and align the client's understanding with what an appeal can and cannot accomplish:

• Realistic assessment — what are the actual chances of reversal? Most appeals fail. The reversal rate in federal circuits hovers around 10-15%. State courts vary, but the numbers are similar. A client who believes their appeal is a sure thing because they feel the trial was unfair needs to hear the statistical reality at intake, not after six months of briefing.
• Relief sought — what specifically is the client asking the appellate court to do? Full reversal, reversal and remand for a new trial, modification of the judgment, reversal on specific counts only. The relief must match the errors identified.
• Timeline — appeals take months to years. From notice of appeal through briefing, oral argument, and decision, 12 to 24 months is typical in most courts. Some courts are faster; some are slower. The client must understand that an appeal is not a quick fix.
• Cost — is the engagement flat fee or hourly? Appellate work is research-and-writing intensive, which means it is expensive on an hourly basis even when the attorney is working efficiently. A 13,000-word opening brief requires reading the full record, researching every issue, and writing to the highest standard. The client needs a realistic cost estimate at intake.
• New evidence — the client almost always wants to introduce new evidence on appeal. They need to understand at intake that this is generally not possible. The appellate court reviews the record as it existed at trial. There are limited exceptions — newly discovered evidence, ineffective assistance claims — but they are narrow and procedurally distinct from the direct appeal.
• Scope — is the client appealing the entire judgment or specific issues? Focused appeals on the strongest issues are generally more effective than kitchen-sink briefing. The intake should document which issues the client prioritizes and which the attorney recommends pursuing.
• Supersedeas and enforcement — is the judgment being enforced while the appeal is pending? In civil cases, a money judgment can be collected unless a supersedeas bond stays enforcement. In criminal cases, is the client incarcerated or free on bail pending appeal? The enforcement status affects the urgency and the client's decision-making.

Criminal appeal specifics

Criminal appeals raise issues that do not exist in civil appellate practice. Your intake form should include a dedicated section for criminal cases that captures:

• Anders brief — if appellate counsel is appointed and, after reviewing the record, finds no meritorious issues, counsel must file an Anders brief (named for Anders v. California) explaining that the appeal is frivolous. The client then has the opportunity to file a pro se brief. The intake should note whether this is a potential outcome so the client understands the possibility.
• Ineffective assistance of counsel — a claim that trial counsel's performance fell below professional standards and prejudiced the outcome. This is evaluated under the Strickland two-prong test: deficient performance plus prejudice. IAC claims are typically better suited for post-conviction proceedings than direct appeal, because the appellate record usually does not contain evidence of trial counsel's strategic reasoning. The intake should identify potential IAC issues and note the appropriate procedural vehicle.
• Sentencing guidelines — was there a guidelines calculation error? Was the sentence within or outside the guidelines range? Was a departure or variance granted or denied? Federal sentencing appeals have their own body of law that is distinct from the substantive criminal issues.
• Plea withdrawal — if the appeal arises from a guilty plea, can the plea be withdrawn? Plea withdrawal on appeal is generally limited to showing that the plea was not knowing, voluntary, and intelligent, or that the court failed to comply with the plea colloquy requirements.
• Habeas corpus — is the client confusing a direct appeal with a collateral attack? Habeas corpus (federal, under 28 U.S.C. 2254 for state convictions or 2255 for federal) is a separate procedural vehicle with its own statute of limitations, exhaustion requirements, and standards. The intake should clarify whether the client needs a direct appeal, a habeas petition, or both — and explain the critical difference.
• Post-conviction relief — state PCR petitions are another avenue distinct from direct appeal. They are the appropriate vehicle for claims that require evidence outside the trial record (such as IAC claims requiring testimony from trial counsel). The intake should assess whether any issues are better suited for PCR than for the direct appeal.

For a deeper look at what criminal defense matters require at the trial-court level before an appeal becomes necessary, see our criminal defense intake form guide.

Why structure matters more in appellate intake than anywhere else

Trial practice is dynamic. Facts develop during discovery. Witnesses change their testimony. New evidence surfaces. An intake form for a trial matter is a starting point that evolves throughout the engagement. Appellate practice is the opposite. The record is what it is. The issues are either preserved or they are not. The deadlines are jurisdictional. The standards of review are fixed. Everything an appellate attorney needs to evaluate the case, advise the client, and plan the brief exists at the moment of intake — it just needs to be systematically collected.

A structured intake form ensures that nothing falls through the cracks during that first conversation. It ensures that the notice-of-appeal deadline is captured before anything else. It ensures that the trial record status is documented so transcript orders do not get delayed. It ensures that the client understands — on day one — what an appeal can realistically accomplish, how long it will take, and what it will cost.

If your practice handles appeals across multiple areas of law, the Legal Bundle includes 38 practice-area-specific form sets, each with fields tailored to that area's unique intake requirements.