Ga. Ct. App. R. 23

(a) Appellant’s Brief.

Appellant’s brief shall be filed within 20 days after the appeal is docketed. Failure to file within that time, unless extended upon motion for good cause shown, may result in the dismissal of the appeal, and may subject the offending party and/or counsel to sanctions, including contempt. See Rule 7, Contempt, and Rule 13, Notice of Docketing.

Pursuant to Rule 16 (b), appellant’s motion for an extension of time to file a brief and enumeration of errors must be filed before the date the documents are due or the Court may dismiss the appeal. If two or more appeals are consolidated, a brief is still required to be filed in each appeal. Parties may adopt, and are encouraged to adopt, all or a portion of another brief in the same case or from another case pending in this Court. The party adopting language from another brief shall specify precisely what portion of the other brief the party is adopting and list the case number, if different.

(b) Appellee’s Brief.

To be considered, appellee’s brief should be filed within 40 days after the appeal is docketed or 20 days after the appellant’s brief is filed, whichever is later. Appellees are encouraged but, other than the State in a criminal case, are not required to file a brief. A brief shall be filed by the State when it is the appellee in the appeal of a criminal case. The State’s representative may be subject to sanctions, including contempt, for failing to file a timely responsive brief.

(c) Reply Brief.

Appellant may file a reply brief within 20 days from the date the appellee’s brief is filed. Appellee has no right to respond to appellant’s reply brief except as permitted under Rule 27, Supplemental Briefs.

(d) Other Parties.

Parties listed on the court’s docket as “Other Parties” may file a single brief, no later than the due date of the appellee’s brief, and must comply with the requirements of an initial brief per Rule 24.