When putting together an appeal, you’re going to have to decide which documents to provide to the appellate court. Should you include all documents filed in the trial court? What if your appellate argument focuses on an issue that appeared on one page of a 50-page motion? Do you include the whole motion? The exhibits and the opposition too?
These questions may sound simple, but the answers starkly differ depending on the jurisdiction. Getting it right is important, because the documents you provide to the appellate court can have a huge impact on the success of your appeal. As one court put it, “[w]hen practicing appellate law, there are at least three immutable rules: first, take great care to prepare a complete record; second, if it is not in the record, it did not happen; and third, when in doubt, refer back to rules one and two.” (Protect Our Water v. County of Merced, 110 Cal. App. 4th 362, 364 (2003)). Yet you can’t simply provide everything, since both state and federal rules forbid providing the appellate court with “unnecessary” documents, with the possibility of sanctions for breach of the rule.
