material for the appendix. Leave of court is required for an amicus

curiae to cite directly to the record or to file a separate appendix. PRACTICE NOTES TO RULE 29 Consent. If an amicus brief on the merits is filed on consent of all parties, then no motion for leave is required and the brief should state, pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 29(a), that all parties have consented to its filing. Federal Circuit Rules of Practice (December 1, 2025) Page 121 (Return to Table of Contents) FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 30 Appendix to the Briefs (a) Appellant’s Responsibility. (1) Contents of the Appendix. The appellant must prepare and file an appendix to the briefs containing: (A) (B) the relevant docket entries in the proceeding below; the relevant portions of the pleadings, charge, findings, or opinion; (C) the judgment, order, or decision in question; and (D) other parts of the record to which the parties wish to direct the court’s attention.* (2) Excluded Material. Memoranda of law in the district court should not be included in the appendix unless they have independent relevance. Parts of the record may be relied on by the court or the parties even though not included in the appendix. (3) Time to File; Number of Copies. Unless filing is deferred under Rule 30(c), the appellant must file 10 copies of the appendix with the brief and must serve one copy on counsel for each party separately represented. An unrepresented party proceeding in forma pauperis must file 4 legible copies with the clerk, and one copy must be served on counsel for each separately represented party. The court may by local rule or by order in a particular case require the filing or service of a different number.† *Only record materials actually cited by parties in their briefing may be included in the appendix filed with this court, unless otherwise required or permitted by Fed. Cir. R. 30. See Fed. Cir. R. 30(a)(1)(B). †Fed. Cir. R. 30(a)(2) defers filing of the appendix in this court until after briefing is complete. Fed. Cir. R. 25(c)(3), cross-referenced in Fed. Cir. R. 30(a)(3), state the court’s appendix paper copy requirements. Federal Circuit Rules of Practice (December 1, 2025) Page 122 (Return to Table of Contents) FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 30 (b) All Parties’ Responsibilities (1) Determining the Contents of the Appendix. The parties are encouraged to agree on the contents of the appendix. In the absence of an agreement, the appellant must, within 14 days after the record is filed, serve on the appellee a designation of the parts of the record the appellant intends to include in the appendix and a statement of the issues the appellant intends to present for review. The appellee may, within 14 days after receiving the designation, serve on the appellant a designation of additional parts to which it wishes to direct the court’s attention. The appellant must include the designated parts in the appendix. The parties must not engage in unnecessary designation of parts of the record, because the entire record is available to the court. This paragraph applies also to a cross-appellant and a cross-appellee.* (2) Costs of Appendix. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the appellant must pay the cost of the appendix. If the appellant considers parts of the record designated by the appellee to be unnecessary, the appellant may advise the appellee, who must then advance the cost of including those parts. The cost of the appendix is a taxable cost. But if any party causes unnecessary parts of the record to be included in the appendix, the court may impose the cost of those parts on that party. Each circuit must, by local rule, provide for sanctions against attorneys who unreasonably and vexatiously including unnecessary material in the appendix.† litigation costs by increase (c) Deferred Appendix. (1) Deferral Until After Briefs Are Filed. The court may provide by rule for classes of cases or by order in a particular case that preparation of the appendix may be deferred until after the briefs have been filed and that the appendix may be filed 21 days after the appellee’s brief is *The court’s local designation requirements for the deferred appendix are described in Fed. Cir. R. 30(b). †See Fed. Cir. R. 25(h) for the court’s local rule regarding sanctions. For additional local requirements regarding costs of the appendix, see Fed. Cir. R. 30(a)(1)(D) and Fed. Cir. R. 30(f). Federal Circuit Rules of Practice (December 1, 2025) Page 123 (Return to Table of Contents) FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 30 served. Even though the filing of the appendix may be deferred, Rule 30(b) applies; except that a party must designate the parts of the record it wants included in the appendix when it serves its brief and need not include a statement of the issues presented.* (2) References to the Record. (A) If the deferred appendix is used, the parties may cite in their briefs the pertinent pages of the record. When the appendix is prepared, the record pages cited in the briefs must be indicated by inserting record page numbers, in brackets, at places in the appendix where those pages of the record appear. (B) A party who wants to refer directly to pages of the appendix may serve and file copies of the brief within the time required by Rule 31(a), containing appropriate references to pertinent pages of the record. In that event, within 14 days after the appendix is filed, the party must serve and file copies of the brief, containing references to the pages of the appendix in place of or in addition to the references to the pertinent pages of the record. Except for the correction of typographical errors, no other changes may be made to the brief.† (d) Format of the Appendix. The appendix must begin with a table of contents identifying the page at which each part begins.‡ The relevant docket entries must follow the table of contents. § Other parts of the record must follow *Fed. Cir. R. 30(a)(2) defers filing of the appendix in all cases before this court until after briefing is complete, though the court affords unrepresented parties the opportunity to submit an informal appendix earlier under Fed. Cir. R. 30(h). Preparation of the appendix is addressed in Fed. Cir. R. 30(b). †The parties’ references to record material must follow Fed. Cir. R. 28(f). ‡ Fed. Cir. 30(a)(6) addresses the new requirement for a table of contents. §After the table of contents, this court requires that the judgments, orders, agency actions, or other decisions appealed from and any opinions, memoranda, or findings and conclusions supporting them, including any rehearing opinions or orders, be placed first in the appendix. See Fed. Cir. R. 30(c)(1). If the appendix is filed in two versions pursuant to Fed. Cir. R. 25.1(e)(1), the confidential version must (continued on the next page) Federal Circuit Rules of Practice (December 1, 2025) Page 124 FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 30 (Return to Table of Contents) chronologically. When pages from the transcript of proceedings are placed in the appendix, the transcript page numbers must be shown in brackets immediately before the included pages. Omissions in the text of papers or of the transcript must be indicated by asterisks. subscriptions, Immaterial acknowledgments, etc.) should be omitted. (captions, matters formal (e) Reproduction of Exhibits. Exhibits designated for inclusion in the appendix may be reproduced in a separate volume, or volumes, suitably indexed. Four copies must be filed with the appendix, and one copy must be served on counsel for each separately represented party.* If a transcript of a proceeding before an administrative agency, board, commission, or officer was used in a district-court action and has been designated for inclusion in the appendix, the transcript must be placed in the appendix as an exhibit. (f) Appeal on the Original Record Without an Appendix. The court may, either by rule for all cases or classes of cases or by order in a particular case, dispense with the appendix and permit an appeal to proceed on the original record with any copies of the record, or relevant parts, that the court may order the parties to file.