Guide
Virginia Table of Authorities: Rules 5 and 5A
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Virginia requires a table of authorities in both Supreme Court and Court of Appeals opening briefs, and in the petitions covered by Rules 5:17 and 5A:12. The recurring requirement is cases alphabetically arranged and citations of all authorities including their year. Choose the court and document before choosing the rule: Part Five governs the Supreme Court; Part Five A governs the Court of Appeals. A petition seeking discretionary review is not simply an opening brief with a different cover.
Start with the Virginia preset in the table of authorities generator, review authorities extracted from your PDF and export editable Word output. Confirm the actual court and settings before exporting; detection or samples can change the entry selection. Official consolidated rules checked October 14, 2026.
The shared language does not erase procedural differences
“A table of contents and table of authorities with cases alphabetically arranged. Citations of all authorities must include the year thereof.” — Rule 5:27(a); the same requirement appears in Rule 5A:20(a)
The official consolidated PDF was read for the petition, opposition, opening, appellee and reply provisions listed here. Rule 5:17 governs Supreme Court petitions invoking appellate jurisdiction unless another rule or statute provides otherwise. Rule 5A:12 concerns Court of Appeals review that does not lie as a matter of right. Do not label every Court of Appeals criminal appeal a petition appeal using an older version of Part Five A. Current document selection depends on the applicable appellate route.
Both petition rules list assignments of error before the table provision. The opening-brief rules list the tables first and then their other components. Follow the relevant rule’s sequence and substantive requirements. Reusing a petition’s table for a later brief without regenerating can leave authorities and pages that no longer match.
| Court and document | Rule | Table requirement or distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court petition for appeal | 5:17(c)(2) | Contents and authorities tables; cases alphabetical; citations include years. |
| Supreme Court opening / appellee brief | 5:27(a) / 5:28(a) | Both expressly require tables, alphabetical cases and years. |
| Supreme Court brief in opposition | 5:18(b) | Express table threshold: exceeds 10 pages or 1,750 words. |
| Court of Appeals discretionary petition | 5A:12(c)(2) | Tables required; applies when appeal is not as of right. |
| Court of Appeals opening / appellee or guardian brief | 5A:20(a) / 5A:21(a) | Both expressly require tables, alphabetical cases and years. |
| Court of Appeals brief in opposition | 5A:13(b)(2) | Express table threshold: exceeds 3,500 words, not the Supreme Court threshold. |
| Reply / cross-error reply | 5:29 / 5A:22 | Separate reply provisions; verify applicable general rules and court directions rather than importing an opening-brief mandate. |
What to check in a Virginia table
The quoted Virginia language differs from rules that expressly spell out a brief-page reference for each authority. It prescribes tables, alphabetical cases and citation years; it does not itself detail a page-column design. Providing accurate brief-page references remains a useful navigation practice, not a quotation of additional wording from subsection (a). Keep the year in the authority citation, not in the page column.
Separate cases from statutes, constitutional provisions and rules so the case list remains alphabetical. These category labels are practical organization, not an assertion that the cited provisions prescribe every heading. Inspect citations outside the argument, including standards of review and footnotes. A full citation and a later short form should ordinarily lead to one reviewed decision entry, but distinct decisions involving the same parties should not be merged just because the names match. The table clauses do not resolve passim usage; list concrete pages rather than promising that a preset authorizes it.
From a paginated PDF to a reviewed Word table
- Choose the governing rule first. Identify Supreme Court or Court of Appeals, petition or merits brief, and any case-specific directions. Keep opposition thresholds separate from principal-brief requirements.
- Export the relevant document. Use its intended printed page numbers and retain the matching Word file. Do not process a combined appendix and brief as though all page numbers were interchangeable.
- Open the Virginia preset. Add the PDF to the generator. Confirm the actual court and settings rather than treating the preset as a complete rule checklist.
- Review all entries. Check complete citations and years, alphabetical case order, genuine duplicates, missing authorities and every brief-page reference against the PDF. The tool does not restyle the citations in your document.
- Export and recheck. PDF-only downloads an editable Word table. Matching Word plus text-layer PDF can insert ordinary table text into your Word file. Re-export after insertion or edits and check final page references again; separately inspect full-brief formatting and filing requirements.
DOCX-only processing creates Word TA fields and a TOA field for Word for Windows to build and update. That is not the ordinary-text PDF route. Neither route adds e-filing bookmarks, formats the entire brief or guarantees compliance with either appellate court’s rules.
Frequently asked
Do Rules 5 and 5A refer to the same court?
No. Part Five governs the Supreme Court and Part Five A governs the Court of Appeals. Their table language often matches, but their document types and opposition thresholds must be checked separately.
Does a Court of Appeals petition require a table?
Yes for a petition governed by 5A:12(c)(2), which addresses discretionary review when the appeal does not lie as a matter of right. An appeal-of-right opening brief instead uses 5A:20.
Does a short brief in opposition have the same threshold in both courts?
No. Rule 5:18(b) expressly requires tables when a Supreme Court opposition exceeds 10 pages or 1,750 words. Rule 5A:13(b)(2) uses more than 3,500 words in the Court of Appeals. Review each rule’s other incorporated requirements too.
Are citation years required only for cases?
The clauses say citations of all authorities must include the year thereof. Do not reduce that wording to a cases-only requirement. Review the citation appropriate to each type of authority.
Can this table satisfy a circuit-court motion’s requirements?
This guide establishes appellate requirements only. A trial filing may use an authorities table as a useful aid, but its mandatory contents depend on the applicable trial rules and court order.
Official source and dates
- Virginia Courts: consolidated Rules of Supreme Court of VirginiaOfficial PDF downloaded and relevant rules read October 14, 2026: 5:17, 5:18, 5:27–29, 5A:12–13 and 5A:20–22. Rule 5:27’s annotation identifies a November 23, 2020 order effective March 1, 2021; 5A:20 identifies a June 21, 2024 order effective August 20, 2024. Those amendment dates are not the source-check date. Other rules retain their individual annotations.vacourts.gov
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