appellate-formatting-certification

name	appellate-formatting-certification
title	Appellate TOC/TOA and Compliance Certificate
description	Generates appellate-brief TOC, TOA, and Certificate of Compliance with defensible word-count methodology. Triggers on TOC/TOA rebuilds, certificate of compliance drafting, FRAP 32(g) compliance, word-count certification, or final brief formatting before filing.
author	CaseMark
author_url	https://github.com/CaseMark/skills/tree/main/skills/legal/appellate-formatting-certification
license	Apache-2.0
version	0.1.0
execution_mode	open
jurisdiction	us
practice	litigation
language	en
tags	["analysis","brief","drafting"]

Appellate TOC/TOA and Compliance Certificate

Produce filing-ready Table of Contents, Table of Authorities, and Certificate of Compliance tied to the final paginated brief and governing rules.

Quick Start

Gather before drafting:

Input	Required	If missing
Court and brief type	Yes	Ask before drafting
Final paginated PDF	Preferred	Use [__] placeholders; label DRAFT
Word processor word count	Yes	Insert placeholder; require attorney count
Excluded sections list	Yes	Require rule text; never assume
Local rules / standing orders	Yes	Request rule text or cite with [VERIFY]

Rule Anchors

Verify all cites against current rules before drafting.

Forum	Core anchors
Federal courts of appeals	FRAP 28, 32(a)(5)–(7), 32(f), 32(g) [VERIFY]
State appellate courts	State rule text only [VERIFY]
U.S. Supreme Court	Sup. Ct. R. 33, 34, 33.1(g), 33.2 [VERIFY]

Core Workflow

1. Confirm rules — Identify governing rules and any court order modifying limits.
2. Build heading map — Extract headings from brief; preserve exact text, capitalization, numbering.
3. Generate TOC — Map headings to final page numbers. If unpaginated, use [__] and label DRAFT - PAGE NUMBERS TBD. Include all forum-required sections (certificates, required statements). Use Roman/Arabic numbering only if the forum does so.
4. Generate TOA — Extract all citations from the brief (including footnotes) and sort by category:
   • Cases — alphabetical by first party name
   • Constitutional Provisions — jurisdiction then provision
   • Statutes — code then section
   • Rules — rule number
   • Other Authorities — alphabetical by author/title
5. Compute word count — Document total words, excluded sections (with rule cite), excluded words, and net count.