(A) Filing, Number and Length of Briefs. All parties shall file an original and 4 copies of their briefs. Initial briefs of appellant and appellee, and reply briefs shall not exceed the limitations in App.R. 19(A). Reply briefs are not permitted in accelerated calendar appeals except with leave of court. All limits are exclusive of the table of contents, lists of authorities, and appendix. For good cause shown, the court may grant a party's motion for leave to file a brief in excess of the limitations. The motion shall specify the number of extra pages or additional word count requested and the reasons extra pages or words are required.
(B)General Requirements. The body text of a brief must be set in a plain legible typeface of at least 12 points, such as Times New Roman or Arial. Footnotes are discouraged but when necessary must be set in the same typeface as the body text of no less than 12 points. The body of the text of a brief and footnotes must be double-spaced, but quotations of fifty words or more may be single spaced and blocked. The excessive use of single spaced block quotations to meet page limitations for briefs, i.e., reduced font size or condensed type style, shall result in a brief being stricken sua sponte.(C)Citations. Reference to the record must include reference to the volumes and page number of transcript. Juveniles shall be referred to by means of the juvenile's initials, or a generic term or abbreviation such as "child," however, this does not apply to juveniles who have been bound over to the court of common pleas and convicted of criminal charges. Victims of criminal offenses shall be referred to by the victim's initials or a generic term or abbreviation such as "Victim 1" or V1. Case citations and other legal authorities must appear in the text of the argument after the point of law for which the case or legal authority is cited, NOT in a footnote, and must include the volume and page number of the case, and the particular page or paragraph number where the point of law is found. Citations shall conform to the Writing Manual A Guide to Citations, Style, and Judicial Opinion Writing issued by the Supreme Court of Ohio (2013).(D)Contents of Briefs. Reply briefs shall be restricted to matters in rebuttal of appellee's brief. It is not necessary to include copies of any cases cited in the briefs. An official citation shall be used in the table of cases. In addition to the requirements of App.R. 16, the appendix of appellant's brief shall contain a copy of the judgment entry from which the appeal is taken. If the parties to the appeal base their arguments for or against reversal of the trial court judgment on a contract in a civil or administrative action, the parties shall include a copy of that contract in their appendix. If the contract is voluminous, the parties may file a motion with the court seeking to waive this requirement. The motion shall state the length of the contract and/or any other ground for which the party seeks waiver.(E)Appendix. When the appendix to a brief contains three or more items, each item must be separately identified by consecutive numbers or letters or by name of the document and referred to in the brief by the corresponding number, letter or name.(F)Non-conforming Briefs. A brief not prepared in accordance with this rule, as well as App.Rs. 16 and 19, may be stricken. The court may permit a party to file a revised brief which conforms to the rules.(G)Supplemental Authorities. Supplemental or additional authorities filed with the court after briefing has been completed shall be limited to citation of authorities issued in the interim after briefing was completed.(H)Conceding Error. If a party has conceded reversible error in the filing of a brief, that party and/or the opposing party, shall file a notice or a joint notice of conceded error with the clerk within 10 days advising the court of the conceded error.(I)Suggestion of Mootness: If any party believes that the appeal has become moot, the party shall address the issue in its brief. If the question of mootness arises after the parties file their respective briefs, then the party raising the issue of mootness shall file a Notice with the court advising of the argument for mootness. The opposing party may file a response to the suggestion of mootness within the 14-day period provided by App.R. 15. If the matter has been scheduled for oral argument or determination, the court may, by order, shorten the 14-day response time for the opposing party to respond to the suggestion. No further briefing of the issue will be permitted unless ordered by the court.Effective 1/1/1980; effective 10/1/1986; 8/1/1989; 10/1/1991; 7/1/1992; 6/30/1994; 1/1/1998, amended, effective 7/1/2002; 7/1/2006; 1/1/2011; amended effective 9/1/2011; 7/1/2013; 7/1/2014,9/15/2017,1/1/2018,10/1/2018, amended, effective 8/10/2020, amended 1/25/2021, amended, effective 6/1/2021; amended eff. 1/1/2022; amended eff. 3/1/2024.