Amended Rules of Appellate Procedure go into effect March 1.  The rules will be applied to all documents filed on or after March 1, regardless of the status of the appeal. 

The main changes in the rules were to eliminate appendices for appeals and to direct how to cite to the record.  Additionally, beginning March 1, transcripts will be filed into the district court record. 

Under amended N.D.R.App.P.  30(b), references to the record will be made in briefs directly to the record as follows:

(1) Reference to any material that is contained in an item in the record and that is listed under a register of actions index number, including transcripts, must be made by setting forth in parentheses the capital letter “R” followed by the index number of the item followed by a colon and the specific page within the item where the information referred to is located, for example (R156:12). If applicable, paragraph or line numbers must be included after the page number, for example (R156:12:¶3) or (R156:12:3).

(2) References to a video or audio recording in the record must be made by identifying the recording and providing specific, time-coded locations of the relevant portions.