Questions and answers
Is AppealDraft a law firm?
No. AppealDraft is a document-preparation service. We format the brief you wrote and build the appendix from the records you upload. We don’t give legal advice, choose your arguments, or check whether your appeal is timely or has merit. If you need advice, talk to a lawyer or your local legal-aid or pro bono program.
What does “formatting to the court’s rules” include?
The cover in the court’s form, the required sections in the required order (for example jurisdictional statement, statement of issues, statement of the case, summary of argument, argument with point headings, conclusion), a table of contents and a table of authorities with page numbers, the court’s font, size, spacing and margins, page numbering, and the certificates of compliance and service. We also polish grammar, citation form and tone — without adding new arguments or authorities.
My draft is rough. Is that OK?
Yes — that’s what AppealDraft is for. Upload what you have (Word, PDF, text, even photos of typed pages). If a required section is missing, it is written from what your draft already says, and anything you need to check is listed in the review report.
Does the AI add case law?
No. It is instructed never to add authorities, facts or arguments that are not in your draft, and never to invent a citation. It can’t verify that the cases you cite are correct or still good law — please check them before filing.
What is in the appendix?
The record documents you upload (judgment or order appealed from, notice of appeal, docket, pleadings, transcript excerpts, exhibits …) in the order the court expects, with an index and the court’s page numbering stamped on every page (for example Da1 in New Jersey, JA1 in the Fourth Circuit, 1-ER-1 in the Ninth Circuit). Large appendices are split into volumes.
Which courts do you support?
Every U.S. Court of Appeals (FRAP plus each circuit’s local rules), the intermediate appellate courts and supreme courts of all 50 states and D.C., New Jersey municipal appeals to the Law Division, and other municipal or local-court appeals (you tell us the court). See the court list.
How much does it cost?
One price per appeal, paid before processing starts: $99 for a municipal appeal, $299 for a state appeal and $499 for a federal appeal. That includes the brief and appendix in Word and PDF and two free revision rounds. Court filing fees are separate.
How long does it take?
Usually less than an hour after payment, longer for very large drafts or appendices. You get an email when your files are ready, and you can follow the progress on your appeal page.
Which file types can I upload?
Drafts: Word (.docx), PDF, OpenDocument (.odt), RTF, plain text, or photos (JPG/PNG). Record documents: PDF, Word, text or images. Old .doc and WordPerfect files must be saved as .docx or PDF first. Password-protected PDFs must be unlocked.
Can I change things afterwards?
Yes. Edit the Word file yourself, or send a revision request (two are included) — for example to fix a party name, move a paragraph or add a record document.
Who sees my documents?
Your files are stored privately and are only readable by you and by AppealDraft staff when needed to fix a problem. The text is processed by our AI provider (Anthropic) to format it; it is not used to train AI models. See the privacy policy.
Do you file the brief for me?
No. You file and serve the brief yourself (or your lawyer does). The PDF is ready for e-filing: embedded fonts, searchable text, bookmarks and page labels.