This is the cover of the brief that contains identifying information on the case.  This includes the name of the case, the case number, what type of brief it is (appellant’s brief, appellee’s brief, etc.), and the lower court it is coming from.  This is also where each party is identified as the appellant or appellee and the lawyers on both sides are named.

This is a guide and map for the appellate court.  It lays out each component of the brief with page numbers.  Lawyers will typically include subsections with specific arguments or pieces of evidence to make the brief easy to navigate.

This is the reference page of the brief.  In this section lawyers must include every case, statute, ruling, or other form of precedent they use.  This is important because it allows the judges to reference what source of law you are using in your argument.

In this section a lawyer needs to identify the correct standard of review for the case.  They must provide references to similar cases with an explanation of the decision that the court made on standard of review.  This is meant to prove they have the right standard.  This can be divided to look at the different issues in the case.

This highlights the issues the case is dealing with.  In law, a court looks at a case with a simple yes or no question.  In an appellate brief this is applied to the different issues in the case with each one having a different question the court has to answer.  For example, in City of Euless v. Danylyk, each of the three issues was presented as a yes or no question that the court would answer.  These questions can be worded differently by each side to make it seem like their argument is more reasonable.

This section is where each side tells the story of what has happened up to this point.  In this section lawyers must establish the parties and their relationship to each other and to the case.  They will then go on to use legally sufficient facts and important background facts to show exactly what has happened leading up to this point.  Persuasive writing is a huge component of this section that lawyers use to highlight helpful facts to their argument and minimize facts that would be used by the opposition.  Presenting the facts of the case in the most supportive way possible for their client is crucial to developing a reasonable first impression of a lawyer’s argument with the court.

​This is a short section that provides an outline of the argument that will be presented.  This is important for lawyers to show what line of reasoning they will take and makes the argument easier to digest and follow for the court.

This is the largest section of the brief where the lawyer can persuasively present his argument along with the evidence and reasoning to back it.  This section should be written persuasively and should not only cover what arguments you have but should address and either minimize or directly combat anticipated arguments from the other side.  These arguments typically follow a specific writing structure such as CREAC

This section is a statement of what the issues are and how you feel the court should rule.  The conclusion is meant to tie everything that has been presented back together.  It ties the facts of the case together with the argument and is a final voice of persuasion to the court about why they should rule in that side's favor.

This section is a closing statement of clearly what is being requested by the court and what ruling they hope to get.