This program has been approved for 2.0 credit hours from the post-conviction, YAD, CAFL and Mental Health Trial Skills panels.

Hon. Joseph Ditkoff, Appeals Court (Program Chair)
Francis Kenneally, Clerk, Supreme Judicial Court Clerk for the Commonwealth
Bessie Dewar, State Solicitor
Donald Bronstein, Esq., Director, CPCS Private Counsel Appeals Unit
Patricia Campbell Malone, Assistant Clerk, Appeals Court
Sean Connolly, Law Clerk, Appeals Court

Extensive amendments to the Massachusetts Rules of Appellate Procedure becoming effective March 1, 2019 substantially change many procedural requirements in the Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court, and in the transcript request and production and record assembly processes. Members of the Appellate Rules Subcommittee of the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Advisory Committee on Civil and Appellate Procedure will discuss how the amendments affect several topics, including:

• New Format for Briefs and Record Appendices. The Rules were reorganized to detail, in checklist format, the contents of a party’s brief and the record appendix, and include new requirements not previously included in the rules. Learn how to properly format and paginate a brief under the new rules and how to use the new word count and proportionally spaced font option.

• Amicus Practice. Significant revisions to Rule 17 clarify when an amicus brief may be filed as of right, modify the required contents of an amicus brief, change the filing deadline, and impose new disclosure requirements.

• New Deadlines and Application of the Mailbox Rule. Get the specifics on the numerous revisions to various deadlines, understand timely docketing of an appeal under the new provisions, and learn about the expansion of the so-called “inmate mailbox rule.”

• Transcript Production and Assembly of the Record. Learn how the transcript production process was modernized and simplified and the details of a new Administrative Order that now governs technical details of transcript production and submission, and the new timeframe for completion of assembly of the record.

• Clarification of Effect of Post-Judgment Motions on the Notice of Appeal. Rule 4 was revised to clarify the interplay between the Appellate Rules and the Civil Rules in determining the validity or timeliness of a notice of appeal in cases involving post- judgment motions.

• Special Provisions Governing Criminal Appeals. Learn about rules affecting criminal appeals, including new procedures to accomplish changes of counsel on appeal, what to do following issuance of the rescript, and new requirements regarding
motions for voluntary dismissal.

This program is a must for appellate practitioners. Learn the fine print on recent amendments to the rules and benefit from best practice tips from members of the subcommittee that prepared the amendments.



Social Law Library, John Adams Courthouse, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02108
Online registration is encouraged. For assistance, questions on group discounts, special billing, program content, out-of-state CLE credits, and general CLE information contact Michael Saporito at msaporito@socialaw.com. Space is limited. Registrations accepted in order of receipt. Same day registrations are $5.00 extra. Registration fees are non-refundable. Registrants for this program acknowledge that during the program their photographic or videographic images may be incidentally taken; registrants agree that the submission of their registrations for this program constitutes their written consent to the Social Law Library’s use of any such image in print and online materials solely for promotion of the Library’s noncommercial CLE seminars and other educational events and activities.