# Georgia Table of Authorities: Two Appellate Courts

> Georgia Supreme Court Rule 19 and Court of Appeals Rule 25 address tables for lengthy or complex briefs, not a blanket statewide requirement.

*Updated: 2026-10-14*

**Georgia’s appellate table guidance is conditional, not a blanket requirement for every brief.** Supreme Court Rule 19(1)(a) and Court of Appeals Rule 25(a)(1) identify a table of cited authorities, with page references, for briefs of significant length or complexity. Both rules describe a helpful arrangement and specify minimum required items that do not include the table. Distinguish this guidance from an unconditional all-briefs mandate.

[Open the Georgia table of authorities generator](/table-of-authorities-generator?court=ga#tool) to build a reviewable table from your brief’s PDF. Georgia has a named preset; confirm the actual court and settings before export. Free, no account and no document upload: processing stays on your device. Official content checked October 14, 2026.

**Georgia appellate fast facts**

- Supreme Court: Rule 19(1)(a) addresses tables for briefs of significant length or complexity; Rule 19(1) makes items (c), (d), (e) and (g) the minimum.
- Court of Appeals: Rule 25(a)(1) uses the same table wording; its minimum items are (3), (4), (5) and (7), not item (1).
- Supreme Court Rule 19(3) and Court of Appeals Rule 25(c): reply briefs need only the argument item; tables and introductions are encouraged for significant length or complexity.
- The rules call it a “table of cited authorities.” Tables include page references to the brief, not the reporter’s pinpoint pages.
- Supreme Court rules read: effective July 2, 2026. Court of Appeals official HTML read: effective March 26, 2026, accessed through a translation proxy because direct access returned 403.
- Appellate guidance does not establish a TOA requirement for every Georgia trial-court motion, memorandum, application or petition. Check the document-specific rule and any court order.

## Read the conditional language in context

> “For briefs of significant length or complexity, a table of contents and a table of cited authorities, each with page references.” — Supreme Court Rule 19(1)(a); Court of Appeals Rule 25(a)(1)

The lead-in matters. Supreme Court Rule 19(1) says a brief “will usually be most helpful” if it follows the listed items, then identifies the minimum items. Court of Appeals Rule 25(a) has the same structure. Neither quoted table item defines “significant” by a numerical page threshold. A long multi-issue brief with numerous authorities is a sensible candidate for tables, but do not invent a ten-page trigger or announce that all briefs must contain one. For a short document, examine the applicable filing rule and any case-specific order. Providing a useful table voluntarily does not make the rule unconditional.

**Two-court requirement and guidance matrix**

| Document | Supreme Court | Court of Appeals |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Appellant’s principal brief | Rule 19(1)(a): tables for significant length or complexity; outside the listed minimum items. | Rule 25(a)(1): same conditional guidance; outside minimum items (3), (4), (5), (7). |
| Appellee’s brief | Rule 19(2): helpful arrangement follows Rule 19(1), with specified exceptions. | Rule 25(b): helpful arrangement follows Rule 25(a), with specified exceptions. |
| Reply brief | Rule 19(3): argument required; tables and introduction encouraged for significant length or complexity. | Rule 25(c): argument required; tables and introduction encouraged for significant length or complexity. |
| Length calculations | Rule 20(6) excludes the table of citations from word/page limitations. | Rule 24(f)(3) excludes tables of citations from word/page limitations. |
| Citation form | Rule 22(2): complete authority citations; Georgia case name, volume and official-reporter page. | Rule 24(d): case name, volume, page and year of the Official Report. |

## Keep Georgia authority citations separate from record citations

Georgia-specific preparation is more than changing the heading. Supreme Court Rule 22(2) calls for full and complete citations, with Georgia case citations including the official Georgia reporters. Court of Appeals Rule 24(d) explicitly includes the year. Review those details in the underlying brief; the preset does not add reporter information or restyle citations. For cases not yet reported, each court’s provision specifies identifying case-number and decision-date information.

Record references serve a separate purpose. Court of Appeals Rule 25(d)(2) uses the electronic record volume and PDF page within that volume, such as its example V2-46. A table reference instead locates an authority citation within your brief. If a hypothetical authority is cited on brief pages 8 and 13 next to record reference V2-46, its table locations are 8, 13—not 46. Review extracted entries so record notation is not mistaken for legal authority or a brief-page reference.

## PDF review to editable Word table

- **Choose the actual court first.** Read Rule 19 for a Supreme Court brief and Rule 25 for a Court of Appeals brief; the same state preset does not erase differences in rules or length limits.
- **Export the intended draft to PDF.** Keep the printed page numbers and retain the matching Word file. Run the [Georgia generator](/table-of-authorities-generator?court=ga#tool), then confirm court/settings: automatic detection or a sample can override the entry selection.
- **Audit the cited authorities.** Review cases, statutes, rules and secondary authorities, including footnotes. Merge full and short forms only when they identify the same source, check *Id.* occurrences, add misses and verify every brief-page reference. Alphabetical case organization is useful, but the quoted conditional items do not expressly prescribe an alphabetical order.
- **Export an editable table.** PDF-only downloads a Word table. Matching Word plus a text-layer PDF can insert ordinary table text into the Word brief. Check placement and the “Table of Cited Authorities” heading yourself; this is not whole-brief formatting.
- **Re-export after insertion and edits.** Tables can shift pages. Review the assembled PDF, verify every reference and regenerate if necessary. Separately handle court typography, certifications and e-filing features. The app does not restyle citations or add bookmarks.

> **Build a Georgia table when it helps your brief:** The Georgia preset gives you a reviewable starting format, free with no account or document upload. It does not decide whether a table is required in your case or certify compliance. DOCX-only creates Word fields for Word for Windows; use a PDF route for an editable ordinary-text table.

[Build a Georgia authorities table](/table-of-authorities-generator?court=ga#tool)

Free. No account. Your brief stays in your browser, never uploaded.

## Frequently asked

**Does every Georgia appellate brief need a table?**

The read rules do not establish that blanket requirement. Their table items address significant length or complexity within a helpful arrangement, and the minimum-item lists omit the table. A specific order or another filing provision may change your obligations.

**How many pages make a brief significant?**

The cited table items give no numerical threshold. Consider the document’s length, issues and authority density, and check any court instruction rather than inventing a page-count cutoff.

**What about a reply brief?**

Supreme Court Rule 19(3) and Court of Appeals Rule 25(c) require only the argument item and encourage tables and an introduction for replies of significant length or complexity. Review the reply’s own authorities and pages if including a table.

**Can the same Georgia preset serve both courts?**

It can organize a table, but court-specific requirements still govern. Confirm the actual court and review citation form, length and page-number rules independently; a preset is not a filing guarantee.

**Is passim expressly allowed?**

The cited table items require page references but do not expressly authorize passim. Keep verified specific references instead of treating silence as permission to replace them.

**Related guides**

- [Authorities rules by state](/table-of-authorities-by-state)
- [Table format and review](/table-of-authorities-format)
- [Generate a table from a PDF](/table-of-authorities-from-pdf)

**Official sources and access status**

- [Georgia Supreme Court Rules](https://www.gasupreme.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SupremeCourtRules_eff-July-2-2026.pdf): Effective July 2, 2026; Rules 19–22 read in the official PDF on 2026-10-14. Current edition identified from the court’s rules index.
- [Georgia Supreme Court rules index](https://www.gasupreme.us/rules/): Read on 2026-10-14; links the July 2, 2026 compilation.
- [Georgia Court of Appeals Rules 23–27](https://www.gaappeals.gov/rules-23-27/): Actual official HTML, headed effective March 26, 2026, read on 2026-10-14 through Google Translate’s English proxy. Direct HTML and current PDF returned HTTP 403; the proxy exposed the full court-authored provisions, not merely search snippets.