Supreme Court of Arkansas

Format

Type

Times New Roman 14 pt, double-spaced

Margins

1-inch margins

Opening brief

8,600 words

Reply brief

2,875 words

What counts

Counts jurisdictional statement, statement of the case and facts, argument, request for relief; excludes cover, TOC, points on appeal, TOA, certificates, list of adverse rulings

Rules

Rules of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of the State of Arkansas — Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-1; Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(d)

Parts of the brief, in order

1. Cover — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(1)
2. TABLE OF CONTENTS — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(2)
3. POINTS ON APPEAL — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(3)
4. TABLE OF AUTHORITIES — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(4)
5. JURISDICTIONAL STATEMENT — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(5)
6. STATEMENT OF THE CASE AND THE FACTS — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(6)
7. ARGUMENT — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(7)
8. REQUEST FOR RELIEF — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(8)
9. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(9)
10. CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE — Required · Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(10)

Argument headings: Argument under numbered subheadings matching the points on appeal; standard of review stated at the beginning of each issue

Standard of review: Concisely at the beginning of the discussion of each issue (4-2(a)(7))

Record citations: (RP 57) record-pleadings; (RT 456) record-transcript

None (electronic record)

This court does not use a separate appendix — it relies on the record prepared by the clerk. We still build an index of your record documents if you upload them. Pages are numbered like A12. (Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2 (as amended Dec. 17, 2020, eROA))

Abstract/addendum abolished with electronic record on appeal; cite the eROA directly

Certificates

• Compliance: Certify compliance with Administrative Order No. 19 (privacy) and Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(d) word-count limits; state word count
• Service: Evidence service per Rule 4-4(e)

Good to know

• Proportionally spaced serif typeface, not less than 14 pt
• Footnote lines (except quotations) double-spaced
• Cover top margin at least 2 inches
• Appellee/cross-appellant combined brief 14,325 words
• Appellee may omit or adopt jurisdictional statement and statement of case/facts (4-2(b))
• Criminal: Rule 4-3 (list of adverse rulings in LWOP/death cases)

Filing: eFlex e-filing; single word-searchable PDF, bookmarked for each Rule 4-2(a) section, no hyperlinks to external papers/websites (4-1)