“… The brief of the appellants in my humble view, it is well written, well articulated and well argued. It contains very useful law and it is prolific both in character and in content. As a matter of fact, it is one sound brief I have read in recent times.” – Per Tobi J.C.A {as he then was} in BUSARI V OSENI (1992) 4 NWLR {part 237} PAGE 557 at PAGE 581 PARAS E-F According to the free dictionary, “An appellant’s brief is a writing that must be filed with an appellate court so that the court may evaluate whether the decision of the lower court should be reversed because of some error or impropriety that occurred during trial.” A brief in general is a written legal argument used by counsel to lay out arguments in support of petitions or motions before the honourable courts. However, our discussion would focus on the appellant’s brief of argument, which impliedly includes the respondent’s brief. An appellant’s brief by virtue of Order 18{3} Court of Appeal Rules, 2011, the brief which may be settled by counsel, shall contain what are in the appellant’s view, the issues arising in the appeal as well as amended or additional grounds of appeal, while the respondent’s brief shall answer all material points of substance contained in the appellant’s brief and contain all points raised therein which the respondent wishes to concede as well as reasons why the appeal ought to be dismissed. A brief of argument shall begin with an introduction, brief statements of the facts, issues for determination, argument in support of the issues, and shall be concluded with a numbered summary of the points and the reasons upon which the argument is founded, not forgetting the list of authorities. Where the problem arises most times when writing a brief is formulating the issues for determination. “…It is a principle of law that the grounds of appeal should in no circumstance be less than the issues for determination as in the present appeal. While the court may tolerate equal number of grounds and issues, a situation wherein there are less grounds of appeal than the issues for determination should not be tolerated…” Per Ngwuta J.C.A {as he then was} in BOSSA V JULIUS BERGER PLC (2005) 15 NWLR {part 948} PAGE 409 at PAGE 431 PARAS A- B. Simply put, issues for determination should in no circumstance be more than the grounds of appeal. In the same vein “… The respondent should not formulate an issue, which is extraneous to the grounds contained in the appellant’s notice of appeal except where he has filed his own notice of appeal properly called a cross appeal.” Per Okoro J.C.A in DURBAR HOTEL PLC V ITYOUGH (2011) 9 NWLR {part 1251} PAGE 41 at PAGE 53, PARAS B-C. It is worthy to note that while grounds of appeal complain on specific aspect of the judgment of court, the issues of determination deal with a number or agglomeration of grounds. Counsels must be cautious in formulating issues for determination as the success or otherwise of the appeal depends on it. I was reading a law report where a lawyer formulated two issues for one ground, the court asked him to pick one which he did but unfortunately the one he picked couldn’t sustain the appeal and it was dismissed, after all the hard work and number of years it must have taken counsel to reach that stage. This is why counsels ought to be clear and comprehensive, pronouncements made by justices of the Supreme Court should not be cited in unnecessary isolation from the facts and surrounding of those particular cases in which those pronouncements are made, provisions of statutory authority cited should be spelt out to aid the justices when preparing their judgments. The court held in OYADEJI V ADENLE (1992) 9 NWLR {part 316} PAGE 224 at PAGE 234 that “… A counsel engaged to prepare a brief for a party to an appeal must assiduously apply himself to this professional duty by always ensuring that all the salient and crucial legal arguments that can be made on behalf of that party are presented with utmost pellucidity which are substantially in accordance with the mandatory provisions of brief writing.” Godspeed & Goodluck! Do send your comment{s}, observation{s} and recommendation{s} to danielbulusson@gmail.com or like us on www.facebook.com/younglawyerscolumn]]>