Last week, we began our review of the lag time between each typical landmark of a non-death penalty criminal case. This week, we’re reviewing the data on briefing in such cases. First up: the average lag time from filing of the opening brief to filing of the appellant’s reply brief.

In 1990, the average was 40.73 days. In 1991, it was 39 days, but from there, the number increased sharply: 70.04 in 1992, 109.88 in 1993, 85.26 in 1994, 71.3 in 1995, 78.65 in 1996, 90.59 in 1997, 100.66 in 1998 and 82.76 days in 1999.

Party briefing took roughly the same amount of time throughout the next decade. The average wait from opening to reply brief was 110.7 days in 2000, 88.24 in 2001, 83.84 in 2002, 91.35 in 2003, 1-9.65 in 2004, 101.86 in 2005, 135.55 in 2006, 105.45 in 2007, 92.69 in 2008 and 112.39 days in 2009.

The average lag time has drifted slightly higher during the just-concluded decade. It was 95.23 days in 2010, 100.52 in 2011, 108.48 in 2012, 122.16 in 2013, 105.93 in 2014, 101.16 in 2015, 134.37 in 2016, 130.03 in 2017, 132.1 in 2018 and 107.89 days in 2019.

Join us back here next time as we review the data for the average lag time from filing of the reply brief to the final amicus or supplemental brief.

Image courtesy of Flickr by GPA Photo Archive (no changes).