Effective May 1, 2004, the Appellate Indigent Defense Oversight Advisory Committee (AIDOAC) has directed that, for purposes of reimbursement of expenses, service copies of briefs and petitions normally should be stapled rather than bound.
With the implementation of TrueFiling, no binding expenses will be recommended in the Fifth District for any brief filed in that court on or after May 11, 2015, or in the Third District on or after September 14, 2015, even if the brief is filed in paper form. (See Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.204(b)(8).)
No binding expenses will be recommended for petitions for review filed in the California Supreme Court on or after September 1, 2017.
All service copies of a brief or petition should simply be stapled; one staple is sufficient, and it need not be taped over. This change will significantly reduce your binding costs (and thus will pass on to the Judiciary a savings in the cost of appeals).
No one wants to pay money out-of-pocket to cover costs that may not be reimbursed. Accordingly, CCAP urges panel members to use cost-efficient binding alternatives in accord with the above guidelines.
