Deferred Appendices at the Second Circuit:

When filing an appeal in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, most Appellants file an Appendix accompanied by their Appellant’s Brief. The Appendix will include the documents to be cited to by all the parties in their briefs.

However, local rule 30(c) of the Second Circuit provides that parties may file a Deferred Appendix as provided in FRAP 30(c). If the parties stipulate, or if the Court’s own Motion directs, the parties may file a Deferred Appendix, eliminating the need to ascertain which documents the parties will need to cite to in advance. The Deferred Appendix is normally used in instances when the parties cannot decide which documents will comprise the Appendix until they have written their briefs. Some law firms also use this method as a cost-cutting measure, cutting down on the number of pages which need to be reproduced in the Appendix if they are not necessary for the arguments in their briefs.

In instances when a Deferred Appendix is to be filed, the Appellant and Appellee file “Page Proof” Briefs with citations directly to the Record documents listed on the Lower Court’s Docket Sheet. Once the “Page Proof” Reply Brief is filed by the Appellant, the Deferred Appendix will need to be filed within seven days, comprised of the documents which were cited to in all the “Page Proof” Briefs. Fourteen days after the filing of the Deferred Appendix, the “Final Form” Briefs are filed with citations to the Appendix, replacing the Record citations that were in the “Page Proof” Briefs.

To sum up, when filing a Deferred Appendix, please keep in mind that two briefs are required to be filed by each party, “Page Proof” and “Final Form.” The “Page Proof” Brief containing citations to the Record and the “Final Form” Brief containing citations to the Appendix.