WRITING A STATEMENT OF FACTS IN AN APPELLATE BRIEF1

2014 The Writing Center at GULC. All rights reserved.

This handout is designed to complement the Writing Center handout titled, From Memo to
Appellate Brief.

The Statement of Facts is a critical segment of an appellate brief. In crafting it, a writer should take
a somewhat different approach from that taken when he writes a memo. The Statement of Facts
should be written persuasively, consistent with the overall persuasive nature of the brief as a whole.
While there are numerous approaches to writing a Statement of Facts that can yield compelling
results, some general pointers may prove helpful.

The goal of the Statement of Facts is to be persuasive without being extreme. Remember that
a judge could use your description of the facts in his opinion and will also have read both the lower
courts and opposing counsels description of the facts. If your version of events is dramatically
different from these sources, your credibility will come into question.

1) PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES

Incorporate your Theory of the Case into the Statement of Facts. The Theory of the Case is
the unifying concept of your case; it is an implicit message in your brief that ties together the
factual, legal, and policy issues. While the facts explain what happened, and the law explains the
legal implications of what happened, the theory explains why it happened and helps your reader
empathize with your client. 2

For example, if you are representing a party injured in a car accident, your legal theory
might be that the other driver was negligent, but your theory of the case might be that he
was in a rush. In your Statement of Facts, you highlight facts that support your Theory of
the Casethe driver was speeding, late for an appointment, not paying attention, et cetera.

It is difficult to write an effective Statement of Facts without a clear understanding of your

Utilize the Statement of Facts to shape the readers opinion of what the outcome should
be. For example, if you can frame your opponent as a bad person, a brief reader may
subconsciously hope that they lose. Or, if your client committed a crime, emphasize
anything that would make such a decision seem more excusable or relatable Were they

1
Prepared by Brooke Rowland (2014)
2 Writing Center handout, From Memo to Appellate Brief. Refer further to this handout for a more detailed
explanation of how to craft your Theory of the Case.

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 provoked? Were they trying to protect themselves or provide for their family? Anything
that goes toward making a person more likeable or an action more understandable will help
create a persuasive Statement of Facts.

Include all legally relevant facts, even if they do not favor your client. Leaving out key facts
causes you to lose credibility, may be unethical and a violation of the Rules of Professional
Responsibility, and can make the Discussion section of the brief seem unclear, so be sure you have
included all legally relevant facts. When you fail to include facts that work against your client, you
lose the opportunity to frame that negative fact which will inevitably surface in the opposing
counsels brief in a way that is less damaging. Ignoring a harmful fact does not make it go away;
it simply leaves the problem unexplained and undefended.

Emphasize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of your case. In most briefs, there
will be a negative fact about your client that, in the interest of full disclosure, you must
reveal. When you do this, focus on providing the best possible representation for your
clients specific situation. If it is critically important for the court to know that your client
has done something distasteful, frame it in the best way possible, but do disclose it. You
cannot change what happened; you are only working to change how you can accurately
present the situation in a persuasive way.

Do not deceptively characterize the facts. Such characterization damages your credibility.
Accurately state the facts in a way that most favors your client, but do not try to make the Statement
of Facts persuasive by being dishonest or deceitful.

The Statement of Facts should not appear biased; do not utilize overly dramatic language.
Again, such language damages your credibility by causing the reader to suspect you are not
accurately characterizing the facts. While it might make for a more interesting read to set the scene
as sinister and turbulent or to note that the plaintiff let out a bloodcurdling shriek as she fled in
panic, do not use similarly dramatic terms unless the factual record clearly supports such
statements as accurate. When you attempt to color your readers perception of a character, do not
be obvious about it; gently lead a reader to your desired conclusion.

Not: John Smith, a wonderfully kind man with a spotless moral record who probably
adopts puppies in his free time, first met the shady and obviously morally questionable Mr.
Mark when he spotted him lurking in the background at a park, probably trying to spot
unwatched children and kidnap them.

Use a more subtle approach one that may likely lead your reader to personally come to a
similarly extreme conclusion, but that doesnt outright reach that conclusion on its own. Upon
reading that Mr. Smith is a family man with five dogs, and Mr. Mark has a history of drug
abuse, the reader may well think Mr. Smith is a wonderfully kind man with a spotless moral
record, and they may well perceive Mr. Mark as being a shady lurker. Bring the reader to
this point, but do not say it outright.

Even seemingly neutral sentences may be tweaked to become persuasive. For example, it is
generally a good strategy to insinuate that your clients position is the default, and that a decision

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against your position would be going against the grain. So, if your clients entered an area that they
were not authorized to enter, instead of saying, people were not allowed to enter the park,
unlesswhich suggests that entering the area is the exception to the rule, you might consider
saying, people were allowed to enter the park, unless which suggests that the norm is being
allowed to enter, and therefore the clients choice to enter seems less taboo.

2) STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES

Make it interesting. The Statement of Facts is most persuasive when it reads like a story. A bullet-
point or very abrupt style of writing is unlikely to sway a reader in one way or another. When the
Statement of Facts is crafted as a story, it is easier for the reader to become personally interested
in the parties and for the reader to want to pick a side which, if you are using appropriate
persuasive techniques, should be your clients side.

Use specific, accurately descriptive words when appropriate. Descriptive words make the story
more interesting and allow the reader to more vividly picture the scenario. You can also be
deliberate in your choice of descriptive words and choose terms that are more likely to favor your
client.

Mr. Browns enormous black Doberman attacked Sam.

The first sentence is vivid and makes the same scenario seem scarier, which is great if you are
Sams attorney. On the flip side, it can also be good technique to deliberately use general terms to
downplay a negative incident and make a scene feel less vividthe second sentence would surely
be a better choice for Mr. Browns brief.

Where you start the story matters. It often makes sense to tell a story chronologically.
Nonetheless, a chronological recitation is not always the most persuasive. One should consider
other factors. Consider telling the facts from your clients perspective. Frame the facts in the
context that places your client in the most favorable light. What do you want to focus the reader
on? If the opposing side is especially unlikeable, you might lead with facts that show that quality.
If your client is the good guy, do not make your reader wait until the end of your Statement of
Facts to find out.

For example: Mr. Smith, a convicted child molester, stole three televisions from an
electronics store on the evening of March 3rd. This kicks off the statement of facts with
negative information, leaving the reader thinking, Well, gee, I dont like child molesters
and I dont like people who commit crimes, so this guy needs to go jail.

Use names to vary the readers level of attachment to the characters. It may be helpful to refer
to the opposing party as Defendant or Plaintiff and to your own client by their name. Using
terms like Plaintiff and Defendant makes the reader feel more emotionally distant from the
character, while use of names feels more intimate. Note, however, that many court rules advise
against referring to parties by labels such as Plaintiff/Defendant, Appellant/Appellee. Likewise,
think of how you refer to the characters. If you represent the Prosecution, you may refer to the

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police officer as Officer Monk, but if you represent the Defendant you may simply refer to the
police officer as Monk.

3) OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Compare the Statement of Facts with the facts you have included in your Discussion section.
If a fact is in the Discussion section, it must be in your Statement of Facts. Critically evaluate any
information that has been included in your Statement of Facts but not your Discussion does it
serve a purpose?

Do not waste space. Be critical in reading each sentence of the Statement of Facts. Every sentence
does not have to be inherently persuasive, but each sentence does need a purpose even if that
purpose is to provide necessary background, transition into a new event, or distract from a negative
fact. Also, think about proportion the Statement of Facts generally should not take up too much
of your allotted space. Your legal analysis is more important than the Statement of Facts, and the
amount of space you dedicate to analysis should reflect that.

Include citations to the factual record. Almost every sentence in your Statement of Facts should
be followed by a citation to the specific page of the factual record that supports your statement.
This also serves as a check to ensure that your representation of the facts is persuasive but not
inaccurate.

Do not prematurely end the Statement of Facts. Your Statement of Facts should tell a complete
story; explicitly lay out the problem so the reader has a clear understanding of the purpose of the
following legal analysis.

Dont just say, A woman went to the grocery store. She had a conversation with a friend
there about a sensitive topic. A man she did not know recorded the conversation. The End.
Finish the story why was that a problem? What happened after that? Even if it feels
obvious, explain what exactly happened and why the parties are in court. After the woman
found out about the recording, she was shocked and sued the man for intrusion on
seclusion. Now, the story is complete and the reader is clear on what the rest of the brief
will address.

Step back. Do not overdo the Statement of Facts. After evaluating every sentence for persuasive
power and manipulating individual words for maximum impact, step back and simply consider
whether the story comes across as a clear, reasonable presentation of what occurred in the case.

Include the procedural posture of the case. The procedural history, the nature of the case, and
the disposition from the lower court(s) are typically included in the Statement of the Case or the
Statement of Facts if the court rules do not provide for a Statement of the Case. If court rules do
not require a separate Statement of Case, then you would include this section in your Statement of
Fact. This part of the Statement of Facts is fairly straightforward and not particularly persuasive.
It is sometimes labeled as its own separate section and titled, Statement of the Case. Follow the
rule that the court or professor you are writing for articulates. For example, revised Rule 28 of the

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Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure now requires one combined Statement of the Case that
includes the procedural history, the nature of the case, the disposition from the lower court(s), and
a recitation of facts. Thus, in an appellate brief to be filed in federal court, the writer would label
the section Statement of the Case, begin with a discussion of the procedural history, nature of the
case, disposition below, and then a recitation of the facts consistent with the points set forth earlier
in this handout.