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I.WHAT THE APPELLATE COURT DOESC. THE PARTIES’ BRIEFS. These arewritten pleadings filed in the appellatecourt by the parties to the appeal. Theyexplain to the appellate court: (a) what thecase is about; (b) what happened in thecircuit court; (c) what the appellant believeswas wrong with the circuit court’s decision;(d) the legal reasons why that decision iswrong, supported by appropriate citationsto existing law; and (e) why the party on theother side (the appellee) believes the circuitcourt’s decision was correct.The reasons for the rules of appellateprocedure are easier to understand if youhave some idea how the appellate courtoperates and what it can and cannot do foryou. The appellate court’s function is toreview what has already happened in thecircuit court and decide, based on theissues raised, whether any legal errorsoccurred in those proceedings. In order todecide that, the appellate court can lookonly at what happened in the circuit court.It does not hear evidence by live witnesses,and it cannot consider anything that wasnot presented in the circuit court.Inaddition, it is not the appellate court’sfunction to search for errors. The appealingparty (the party who lost in the trial court iscalled the appellant) must tell the courtwhat the claimed error is, and why whathappened was contrary to the law. Whenthe party is representing himself or herself,he or she is called a pro se litigant.Most of the rules of appellate proceduredeal with getting these documents filed inthe appellate court in the proper form andin a timely fashion, so they can beconsidered by that court.Once everything is filed, the appellatecourt judges have basically everything theyneed to decide an appeal. The court may,but is not required to, allow the parties topresent oral arguments about the case(typically 10 to 20 minutes is allowed toeach side). Oral argument is rarely grantedwhen one of the parties is pro se, that is,representing himself or herself.If oralarguments are to be heard, the parties’attorneys are notified when to appear beforea panel of three justices who not only listento what they have to say, but usually askquestions about the case.Because the appellate court’s review islimited to what happened in the circuitcourt and the claims of error that theappellant raises and argues, almosteverything considered by the appellatecourt is contained in three categories ofwritten documents:A. THE COMMON LAW RECORD. Thisincludes all the pleadings, motions andother written documents the parties filed inthe circuit court during the course of theircase (for example, complaints, answers,motions to dismiss or for summaryjudgment). It also includes all the writtenorders entered by the circuit court judge.After reading the briefs, reviewing therecord, considering applicable law, andlistening to oral arguments (if the court hasdecided that oral argument is necessary),the three justices assigned to consider theappeal discuss the case among themselves,reach a decision, and file a written decision(an opinion or an order). All three justicesmust consider the case.If all are inagreement, one of them writes the decision,and the other two “concur,” that is, theyshow their agreement by signing theirnames. If one of the justices does notB. THE REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS.Also referred to as the transcript ofproceedings, this is the written record oforal proceedings (for example, trialtestimony and oral arguments on motionspresented to the circuit court) that isprepared by the court reporter.These,together with the common law record, makeup the record on appeal. 1such as papers and photographs, if the circuitcourt considered them and if they are importantto the appeal. Oversized exhibits will not beincluded in the record except upon order of theappellate court entered on the court’s ownmotion or pursuant to motion of any party.Sometimes the appellate court will considerexhibits of a descriptive or documentary nature,1First Revision October 1, 1999Second Revision April 30, 20111

agree, he or she will file a written “dissent”explaining the basis for the disagreement.The decision agreed upon by two or morejustices is the judgment of the court.when the fee for preparing the record mustbe paid and how you will receive noticewhen the record is ready.Similarly,employees of the offices of the appellatecourt clerks will answer any questions youmight have regarding how many copies of amotion must be filed, whether the justiceshave ruled on a pending motion, andwhether a date has been set for oralargument.The powers of the appellate court arelisted in Supreme Court Rule 366. The ruledescribes the type of relief the court maygrant; for example, reversing a judgmentand entering judgment for the other party,or vacating an order and sending the caseback to the circuit court for furtherproceedings. It also limits, to some extent,the issues that can be reviewed.Forexample, it provides that where there hasbeen a jury trial, the party appealingcannot raise on appeal any claim of errorthat was not raised in a post-judgmentmotion before the circuit court.Please bear in mind, though, that whilemany of the clerks are lawyers, most of theemployees that you will deal with in theiroffices are not. They are all prohibited fromgiving legal advice. They can tell you whattheir particular technical procedure is, butthey cannot fill out forms for you, preparenotices of appeal for you, draft motions foryou, or advise you in any way regardingyour appeal.Filing the record and your briefs on timeand in a form the justices will consider isthe most important part of your appeal.The Supreme Court Rules tell you whenand how to do that, beginning with thefiling of your notice of appeal through thefiling of your briefs.Those Rules arediscussed in this guide.II. WHEN TO APPEALThe “when” of an appeal is governed bySupreme Court Rules 301 through 308.The most basic rule, and the one mostlikely to affect pro se litigants, is that onecan appeal (a) from final judgments thatend the case (Supreme Court Rule 301); or(b) in cases involving multiple parties ormultiple claims, when the circuit courtjudge enters an order that ends thelitigation as to one or more (but fewer thanall) parties or claims and expressly findsthat the ruling can be either appealed orenforced (or both) immediately (SupremeCourt Rule 304(a)).Other types ofjudgments or orders from which appealscan be taken as of right are set forth inSupreme Court Rules 304(b) and 307.Certain orders can be taken by permissionpursuant to Supreme Court Rules 306 and308. Each of these types of appeal isdiscussed in greater detail below.The Role of the Circuit and AppellateCourt ClerksThis is an appropriate place to explainthe different roles played by the offices ofthe circuit and appellate court clerks in theappeal. The office of the circuit court clerkaccepts and files your notice of appeal andassembles the record to be transmitted tothe appellate court.The office of theappellate court clerk accepts and files therecord and the briefs. The appellate courtclerk also makes sure that everything isfiled in a timely fashion, keeps track of themany cases pending on appeal, recordsrulings on motions issued in those cases,and provides notice to the parties of thedate for oral argument and the date onwhich a decision will be issued in the case.It is very important to know when to fileyour notice of appeal because the failure tofile within the time allowed almostinvariably leads to dismissal of your appeal.This is not a matter for the appellate court’sdiscretion. If your appeal is not filed ontime, the appellate court cannot consider itbecause it has no jurisdiction to do so.You will find the employees of theclerks’ offices most helpful in providinginformation within the areas of their duties.For example, you can ask an employee ofthe office of the clerk of the circuit courtFirst Revision October 1, 1999Second Revision April 30, 20112

A. APPEALS FROM FINAL ORDERSresult of a jury verdict, you must file a postjudgment motion in the circuit court topreserve any error for review by theappellate court.With other types ofjudgments, a post-judgment motion is notusually necessary. After the circuit courtrules on the post-judgment motion, yourappeal must be filed within 30 days afterthe ruling and the time is calculated thesame as described above.Be careful,though. You cannot put off the time forappeal by filing one motion after another inthe circuit court once a final order has beenentered.When the circuit court hasentered its judgment, you are permittedone, and only one, post-judgment motionasking the court to consider its ruling oroverturn the jury’s verdict. Once that isruled on, you must appeal within 30 daysor the case is over.Supreme Court Rule 301 provides aright to appeal from all final judgments ofthe circuit court in civil cases. A “finaljudgment” is one that completely disposesof the entire case, for example an orderdismissing the whole complaint “withprejudice,” or an order granting summaryjudgment as to all defendants, or an orderentering judgment on a jury verdict (or onthe trial judge’s findings in cases triedwithout a jury). A judgment is final whenthere is nothing more for the circuit courtto do on the case. Your notice of appealmust be filed within 30 days from the datethat final judgment is entered. SupremeCourt Rule 303(a)(1). If the judge rulesorally, but requires that a written orderreflecting his or her ruling be prepared andfiled, then the 30-day period for filing theappeal runs from the date the written orderis entered by the court.Some pro se litigants wonder why theyhave to wait until the end and cannotappeal every adverse ruling of the circuitcourt at the time it is made. There are tworeasons for that rule.In counting the 30 days, you do notcount the date the judgment is entered.For example, if the circuit court grantssummary judgment on May 9 (the date onthe written order), May 10 is day 1; June 8is day 30.Saturdays, Sundays, andholidays must be counted. You must fileyour notice of appeal on or before June 8.You can file your notice of appeal beforeJune 8, but not later, unless the 30th dayfalls on a Saturday, Sunday or courtholiday (e.g., Thanksgiving Day, ChristmasDay, July 4th). In that case, your notice ofappeal must be filed on the very next daythe court is open for business.Forexample, if June 8 falls on a Sunday, thenyour notice of appeal would be consideredtimely if it is filed on Monday, June 9.1. Suppose John Doe is injuredusing a product that he bought at XHardware Store. He sues the store andthe manufacturer of the product, AcmeManufacturingCompany,makingclaims of both negligence and strictproduct liability.The circuit courtgrants summary judgment for XHardware on his strict product liabilityclaims. Doe wants to appeal, but hecannot because the judgment is not“final.” He still has to go through a trialon his two claims against Acme and theoneremainingclaimagainstXHardware. Suppose further that thecase is tried, and the jury returns averdict in Doe’s favor against both Acmeand X Hardware and awards him all thedamages he asked for. It would notmake any sense for Doe to appeal thesummary judgment in favor of XHardware on that one claim, because hehas gotten everything he wanted. Soreason number one is that, in the longrun, the order that seems so importantnow may not make any difference oncethe case is over.The circuit court cannot extend the timeto appeal in any circumstance. However,the filing of a post-judgment motion within30 days of judgment (for example, a motionto reconsider or a motion for a new trial)will toll (that is, delay) the time to appeal.When a timely post-judgment motion isfiled, the time for appeal does not begin torun until the circuit court rules on thatmotion.Supreme Court Rule 303(a)(2).When the circuit court’s judgment is theFirst Revision October 1, 1999Second Revision April 30, 20113

2. You should also keep in mindthat many orders are entered during thecourse of an action in the circuitcourt—orders about discovery, ordersstriking or dismissing various counts ofa complaint, orders in favor of some butnot all defendants. An appeal from justone order can take as long as one year,depending on the backlog in theappellate court and how timely theparties file their briefs.Permittinglitigants to appeal from every singleorder entered in the litigation as soon asit is entered would prolong a case andcreate an impossible backlog in thecourts. Reason number two, then, isthat usually it just is not efficient topermit several appeals in a case whenany and all claimed errors can beconsidered at one time in a singleappeal.the order is not final even though there isnothing more to be done with Doe’s strictproduct liability claim.In order to make such an orderimmediately appealable, the circuit courtwould enter a written finding that there is“no just reason for delaying eitherenforceme

This guide to appellate procedure was prepared by the Appellate Lawyers first Association in 1989 to help civil litigants who were handling their own appeals.