A change to Rule 28 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure aims to make appellate briefs shorter and less redundant.
Rule 28 currently requires a “statement of the case” and a separate “statement setting out the facts.” These requirements often seemed arbitrary and frequently resulted in briefs that needlessly restated facts—once in the “statement of the case” and again in a separate recitation of facts.
The new rule, effective December 1, 2013, combines these requirements into a single “concise statement of the case setting out the facts relevant to the issues submitted for review, describing the relevant procedural history, and identifying the rulings presented for review[.]” The amendment is available here