This blog’s readership is growing but I am too busy to write these days. So, I will share a brief glimpse into the work I have accomplished this week.

I am not an attorney. I am a self-represented litigant.

I am working on two appeals and a third case may be headed to trial and then appeal.

If you are faced with an appeal as a pro se litigant, it may seem like a daunting job. It overwhelmed me.

Here are some tips I used that helped me to feel the fear and do it anyways:

• Turn the job into bite size pieces.
• Read the Rules!
• Make a “skeleton”.

What I mean by a “skeleton” is that you find the rules of appellate procedure. The Supreme Court Clerk and Library in Arkansas were both helpful to me. Reach out to the Supreme Court Clerk in your jurisdiction for guidance to the rules if you can’t find them online.

Find a sample brief online that was granted. Again, the Clerk may be able to help you with this.

Make an outline that includes each mandatory section.

Then go through the Clerk’s Portion of the transcript in order, filling in the sections as you go. You should also use the Reporter’s Transcript, even if it is inaccurate, like the one Jana Perry falsified in my case. (The Supreme Court of Arkansas denied my petition for writ of mandate or certiorari to settle the record but did not say why.)

As an example, I am including a downloadable copy of my own work in progress on a case that concerns a corrupt judge, Susan Kaye Weaver. This is an interesting case with over 1,000 pages in the record. Hopefully yours is a normal case with one or a few honest errors.

My saving grace was documenting my objections all along. The opposing counsel whined about how many motions I filed. (He insisted on calling motions “pleadings”. Amateur!) But now I feel like I preserved most of my objections for appeal.

This is NOT legal advice. It is not even a complete or final document. I reserve the right to alter it in any way before filing.

UPDATE: November 23, 2022. The brief is complete! Or to be more accurate, the briefs are complete.

My case involves a trust of which I am trustee, settlor and sole beneficiary. Still, the judge wanted to keep me from advocating for “the trust”. Plaintiff should have named me as trustee, not the trust, but that is getting buried in the minutia.

I had a novel argument that I am not advocating for anyone but myself, so it is my Constitutional right to represent myself.

I am adding the two separate briefs below, one for me as an individual and one as trustee.

I’ll share some hints on how to organize your own papers after the Thanksgiving weekend.

Our God is an awesome God! Be blessed.