The Cost of an Appeal

 
 

How to utilize an appellate brief writing service?

First, for those who have never used an appellate brief writing service, there are many way to utilize the service depending on your unique needs. Appellate brief writing services can include:

  • Full service brief writing — we review everything, analyze the issues, develop the appellate strategy, outline the brief, research, draft, and get the brief signature ready for you.

  • Strategy Review — we review everything, analyze the issues, develop the appellate startegy, and outline the issues for you to research and draft.

  • Recrafting — you review eveything, develop the issues, and draft the first version. We then recraft your arguments as needed, provide additional research if needed,  and get the brief ready for filing.

  • Editorial Services — you review eveything, develop the issues, and draft the first version. We do no provide legal research nor restructure argumensts, we merely provide editorial services to tighten up your arguments and then prepare the brief for filing.

The cost of the appeallate project will vary depending on which appellate brief writing service you prefer. However, most clients are interested in full service appellate brief writing assitance, as such below is an estimate of how long it take to compose an appellate brief.

 

What do appeals cost? 

One of the most frequently asked questions is “how much does an appeal cost?”

As is the case for most answers in the legal field, the answer to this question is: “it depends.” Each appeal is unique and you truly don’t know how long it will take until it’s over. However, over the years we have seen patterns that can help us estimate those cost of an appeal.

 

Breakdown for an Appellant’s Intial Brief

  • 5-10 hours to review the Record, develop a plan, and outline the brief

    Some Records are long and some Records are short but usually 10 hours is a good estimate to throughly investigate the case, get comfortable with the facts, and plan your attack. For short Records 5 hours may be sufficient. We consider a short record anything under 500 pages.

  •  2-3 hours to draft the facts and include Record citiations

    Drafting a pursuasive fact section with the appropriate citations is one of the most important parts of any brief because it’s the first impressiong of your case. This is why the facts section deserves it very own special time and attention.  

  •  2-5 hours per issue/section/subsection

    This estimated time includes research and writing for each issue that is being presented. Of course, some difficult or novel legal issue will require more research and drafting, while other simpler issues will require less research and drafting. However, in the end, a multiple issue brief will usually average out to 2-5 hours per issue

  • 2-3 hours for revisions and surprises

    Revisions alone can take all this time. Pursuasive legal writing entails not just wiriting but also re-writimg sections to perfection. Other times, you run into surprises. For example, sometime while researching a separate issue you run into a wonderful (or sometimes not so wonderful) line of cases on another issue you thought you finalized but SURPRISE, you’re not done. This is all part of the normal appellate drafting process that should be accounted for when estimating the cost of an appeal.

  • 1 hour to get the brief ready for filing

    Once the brief is “done” it is not really done until it’s dressed up an ready for the party. This includes drafting the various required certificates, cover page, tables of contents, table of authorities, properly numbering all sections, PDFing the documents, bookmarking every section, and ensuring that all court rules are complied with.

So as you can see, even a one issue brief could take 22 hours. And if that issue is a complex or novel issue, the brief could be even longer. Also, don’t forget that if you’re the appellant in the matter, you will need to produce two briefs: the Initial brief and the Reply Brief.

Reply briefs usually take half the time because the legal writer has already extensively reviewed the record and the Reply is limited to addressing the issues raised in the Response brief.

Other appellate costs

 Aside from the cost of the briefs, in Florida you will most likely also need a Motion for Attorneys’ Fees (if applicable) and a Motion for Oral Argument. Along the way you may also need other common motions like a motions to supplement the records, motions for extnesion of time, etc. Some cases will require other motions like motions to relinquish jurisdiction, motions for sanctions, etc. While motion practice in the appellate courts is very limited, some amount should always be allotted toward the need for appellate motions.

IMPORTANT NOTE

The above estimates are meant to be rough approximations. Don’t let the estimates deter you from getting your appeal evaluated. Some appeals, even with multiple issues, are simple and fall within the lower range of the estimates.  

If you’re curious about the cost for your unique appeal, don’t hestiate to reach out to Eximius Writing Services for an estimate. Call Eximius Writing Services today at 407-926-0167. Tell us about your appeal brief writing needs and we will help you budget approriately for your project.

marcie hancock