I recently learned a little tidbit that some of my fellow appellate practitioners may find useful in handling an appeal before the Georgia Court of Appeals. When citing to a record divided into several sections, the most precise way of doing so is as follows: Prt. II, R-435. The staff at the COA refers to the divided sections as parts, rather than volumes. You can still use the Vol. designation, if you wish. The judges, clerks, and staff will certainly know what you’re signifying. But if you want to be precise, I would recommend using the Prt. designation.

It’s a minor point, of course; the sort of thing only a true appellate nerd could possibly care about. Right?

One other thing. If you practice outside of Atlanta, as I do, you need to make sure that either you or your paralegal determines whether the appellate record is being sent up to the COA in multiple parts. The COA makes no adjustments to the trial-court record. This is why it is crucial to prepare an exact copy of the appellate record before it is sent to the COA, including any division of the record into separate parts. The page numbering should extend beyond the divided parts of the appellate record; meaning that the pages numbers will usually not start and stop with each part of the record (i.e., the final page of the final part of the record will be the highest page number). And while a judge or clerk will be able to find your citation with only a page number, that endeavor can be particularly frustrating when the record is divided into multiple parts. For example, in the appeal I just filed with the COA, the record was divided into twelve different parts. Needless to say, you don’t want to make life any harder on those who have the ability to rule in favor of or against your client. To be sure, you’re not going to prevail on appeal simply because your record citations are flawless; but it certainly can’t hurt. You should also keep in mind Ga. Ct. App. R. 25(c)2, which provides as follows:

Unsupported Claim of Error; References to Record and Transcripts. Any enumeration of error which is not supported in the brief by citation of authority or argument may be deemed abandoned.

1. Each enumerated error shall be supported in the brief by specific reference to the record or transcript. In the absence of such reference, the Court will not search for or consider such enumeration.

2. A contention that certain matters are not supported by the record may be answered by reference to particular pages where they appear.

3. Reference to the record should be indicated by specific volume or part of the record and by (R-Page Number of the Record). Reference to the transcript should be indicated by specific volume or part of the transcript and by (T-Page Number of the Transcript). Reference to a motion transcript should be indicated by (MT-Page Number of the Transcript and date of the hearing).

As for me and my house, I am not going to chance having an enumeration of error or argument deemed “abandoned” due to a faulty record citation.