Rule 84.06.Form of Briefs.

Beyond the physical formatting rules it borrows from Rule 84.03(b), Rule 84.06 controls how long a brief can be. Except where local court rules provide otherwise, an appellant’s initial brief and every brief in a cross appeal other than the reply brief may run up to 31,000 words; a respondent’s brief is capped at 27,900 words; and an appellant’s reply brief is capped at 7,750 words. Everything in the brief counts toward that limit except the cover, any certificate required by the rule, the signature block, and the appendix.

Every brief filed under this rule must include a certificate of compliance signed by the lawyer or self-represented filer. That certificate has to include the information Rule 55.03 requires, state how the brief was served on the opposing party — whether under Rule 43.01(c) or Rule 103.08 — confirm that the brief complies with the word limits, and state the actual word count, which the person preparing the certificate may take directly from the word-processing program used to draft the brief.