The opportunity to appeal an unfavorable court decision is a golden one, and it cannot be wasted. An appeal is literally nothing without an appellate brief to go with it, because failure to provide one will lead to the appeal being dismissed. A brief is a document presented to the court arguing why one side should win and not the other. In the case of an appellate brief, it should argue why a decision either should or shouldn't be overturned. Knowing how to craft an appellate brief and what content to provide within it is crucial to your case. The brief should contain, in an organized manner, a concise statement of the case and facts, a summary of the argument, a standard of review, and, of course, your argument for why the original decision in the case should be overturned or upheld. But let's break down the appellate brief into its parts. The first thing after your cover page is a table of contents and the table of authorities, which is probably best to complete after the rest of the brief is finished. The contents table should contain a breakdown of the brief sections and which page number to find each one on. The authorities table is a list of any previous cases or legal authorities cited in the brief, indicating on which pages the cases can be found. Next should come your statement of the case and facts. This is a breakdown of the relevant history of the original proceedings, along with the material facts pertaining to the issue or issues at hand. Appeals cases are often won or lost on the facts presented, so make them as thorough, accurate, and compelling as possible without being too argumentative. If certain important facts are disputed, say so. Next, you should include a statement of the standard of review for each issue. You can do this all in one section or separate each issue into their own sections. The proper standard of review can be complicated. Even attorneys get that wrong all the time. Your best bet is to find an appellate decision that talks about an issue such as yours, which you will need to have for your argument section anyway. There is a LegalYou video on how to find cases. Look for where the court says what standard of review they are using. It might be a strange word like "de novo" or "abuse of discretion." A quick call to LegalYou can help make sure you use the right one. After this comes the heart of the brief, the argument. Part analysis, part logical exercise, and part presentation, the argument should focus on your strongest points and each point should be broken down into its own heading with subheadings that support the main point. You'll want to finish up, naturally, with a conclusion that tells the appellate judges what you would like them to do if they agree with you, such as reverse the trial court judgement. In Florida, you are also required to certify what font you used for your brief-- typically 14-point Times New Roman. Also, in Florida, your first brief is limited to 50 pages-- not that you have to use that much or even want to. It's all right to keep your briefs-- brief. If you are the one who filed the appeal, you get a second brief called a "reply brief." At most, that can be 15 pages. Sometimes, an instructional video isn't enough, so LegalYou also has example briefs, related resources, and live chat to make it enough. LegalYou, where you are your own best lawyer.