Pro Se Briefs

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PRO SE BRIEFS

A Petition for Writ of Certiorari filed by a non-attorney is designated a pro se filing. Pro se literally means "on one's own behalf." Garner, Black's Law Dictionary, 1236 (7th ed. 1999).

Although pro se parties filing certiorari petitions are presented with unique challenges, the Supreme Court has granted some notable pro se cases. Clarence Earl Gideon proceeded pro se because he could not afford a lawyer. The Supreme Court granted his pro se petition and later ruled in the watershed case of Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), that states were required to provide free counsel to indigent criminal defendants and that the State's failure to appoint counsel in Gideon's case violated the Sixth Amendment. Thomas Van Orden was a suspended attorney who was living homeless in Austin, Texas. Mr. Van Orden filed a cert petition challenging the display of religious materials on State capitol grounds, and the Court granted full review of his case. See Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005).

To stand out in an already overcrowded docket, the pro se party must present his or her petition in the same light as that of an attorney. Foremost in the pro se party's mind must be rule compliance. The Supreme Court has many detailed rules: particular font style and point-size; word count requirements; and certain designated sections that petitions must contain.

At Cockle Law Brief Printing Company, we accommodate pro se petitioners by:

Reviewing the individual sections of your petition for Supreme Court Rule compliance.
Providing an in-depth review of your Questions Presented—a section that one Justice thinks "may well be the most important part of a brief." Scalia, A. & Garner, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, at 83 (2008).
Typesetting your documents into the particular font style, point-size and margins required by the Court.
Proofreading your document word-for-word, marking inconsistencies, grammatical and spelling errors.
Paginating the tables of contents and authorities.
Incorporating your final edits into a printed and bound document.
Preparing the affidavit of service and certificate of compliance, mailing and filing your documents with the Supreme Court, opposing counsel and you.

We routinely walk pro se petitioners through the process of filing their cert petitions. No matter the situation, Cockle assists you in presenting a professional certiorari petition.