Rule 2. DOCUMENTS; COMMUNICATIONS; GENERAL

No filing or other communications to the Court will be accepted by facsimile, and the Clerk's Office will not transmit documents by facsimile, except when ordered by the Court.

(1) Requirements for Written and Signed Documents. All filings, including, but not limited to, documents, motions, briefs, requests, applications, and communications relating to appeals shall be in writing and legible; shall be filed with the Clerk's Office; shall be signed, as further specified in subsections (1) and (2), by an attorney of record, an attorney granted courtesy appearance, or pro se party; shall include the mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address, if any, of the attorney or the pro se party signing the document; shall include the State Bar of Georgia membership number of all submitting attorneys; and shall show that copies have been served upon opposing counsel in accordance with Rule 14, Service. If a registered law student authorized under the Student Practice Rule or a person authorized to practice under the Provisional Admission Rules for Recent Law School Graduates co- authors a filing or pleading, the filing shall disclose such status and be co-signed by the supervising attorney. Filings or communications with the Court by corporate entities, including all classes of corporations and 2 partnerships, professional associations, and limited liability companies, must be signed by an attorney authorized to practice before the Court.

(a) Paper Filings. Signatures on pro se paper filings must be handwritten by the submitting individual. Paper documents with conformed or stamped signatures shall not be accepted.

(b) Electronic Filings.

(i) All electronic filings must be submitted in a searchable portable document format (PDF) only.

(ii) Signatures must be electronic or a conformed signature of the counsel or pro se party filing the document, which means that counsel's or the pro se party's typed name is preceded by "/s/" and is underlined. Counsel's or the pro se party's typed name must also appear below the underline. If there are signatures of multiple attorneys on the document, use of the filing attorney's login and password and the conformed signatures of the others will be presumed to mean that the filing attorney has the agreement of the other signatories to what is filed.

(iii) Attorney filings must be in accordance with Rule 17, Documents: Electronic Filings.

(2) Communications with the Court. There shall be no communications relating to pending cases to any Justice or member of the Justice's staff.

(3) Documents.

(a) Paper. All documents filed on paper (i.e., filings not electronically filed) shall be typed or printed on letter size (8 1/2″ x 11″) non-transparent white paper. 3

(b) Line Spacing. For line spacing requirements, see Rule 16(4).

(c) Fonts. For font requirements, see Rule 16(1).

(d) Noncompliance. Any documents that do not comply with the Court rules may be returned to counsel with notice of the defect of the filing, and/or counsel may be ordered to redact and recast them.

(4) Counsel. All reference to counsel in these rules shall include pro se parties and any registered law students authorized under the Student Practice Rule and persons authorized to practice under the Provisional Admission Rules for Recent Law School Graduates and their supervising attorneys.

(5) Stamped "Filed" Copy. A party desiring to obtain a return copy of a paper document stamped as "filed" must provide an extra copy of the document and a pre-addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage.