US · rules
S.D.N.Y. Local Social Security Rule 5.1
Default Form and Length for Briefs
The typeface, margins, and spacing of all briefs must comply with Local Civil Rule
7.1(b). Absent leave of Court, which must be requested at least seven days in advance,
the following length limitations apply to the parties’ briefs: if filed by an attorney or
prepared with a computer, initial and opposition briefs may not exceed 8,750 words,
and a plaintiff’s reply brief may not exceed 3,500 words; if filed by a party who is not
represented by an attorney and handwritten or prepared with a typewriter, initial and
opposition briefs may not exceed 25 pages, and a plaintiff’s reply brief may not exceed
10 pages. These limits do not include the caption, any index, table of contents, table of
authorities, signature blocks, or any required certificates, but do include material
contained in footnotes or endnotes. If a brief is filed by an attorney or prepared with a
computer, the party must also provide a certificate of compliance as required by Local
Civil Rule 7.1(c). To the extent the court permits a party to submit briefs longer than
these limits, and expresses those limits in pages, each additional page must not contain
more than 350 additional words if the brief is filed by an attorney or prepared with a
computer.
For relevant historical context for this local rule, consult the Appendix of Committee Notes.
History
2025 COMMITTEE NOTE The Supplemental Rules for Social Security Actions do not specify the form or length limits for the parties’ briefs. To promote uniformity, and in recognition that each action governed by the Supplemental Rules is essentially appellate in character, seeking review of a single individual’s claims on a single administrative record, this Local Social Security Rule incorporates the form requirements set forth in Local Civil Rule 7.1(b) and establishes default length limits for the briefs. The rule provides page limits if a party is not represented by an attorney and the brief is handwritten or prepared with a typewriter because a word limit for such submissions would be impracticable.
Provenance
- Source
- www.nysd.uscourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-18
- Edition
- fed-district-2026-09-18
- Content hash
e592b95793e976719a382f2cf54aea25f56df9d24b01a0cc0eabb1a88dbbb546
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