Scope of Rules: Definitions

These rules provide three procedural options for appeal to the Appellate Division. These three options replace the cumbersome and complicated process of requesting, preparing and filing a draft report, and then seeking to have the court settle the report in final form for the Appellate Division. The first two options provide simplified and inexpensive means of framing the legal issues for Appellate Division review. The third option provides a more formal and detailed means of appeal, based on a transcript of the proceedings, with the transcript usually based on the electronic recording of the proceedings. This third option may be chosen at the outset, or only when one or both of the other procedures fails. It is based on the Mass. R. A. P and adheres to those rules as closely as is feasible. Differences from the Mass. R. A. P, if any, are discussed in the commentary to each of the following rules.