​Amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs allow organizations with an expertise in a certain area of the law to educate a court about the legal issues in a particular case. CAI's amicus curiae efforts enable the Institute to help shape the outcome of matters of importance to community association law.

These procedures have been developed to determine whether CAI (as an international organization), a CAI Legislative Action Committee (LAC), a CAI chapter or group of chapters, or some combination thereof will file an amicus curiae brief with an appellate state or federal court. No amicus curiae effort may be undertaken in CAI's name in any court without the approval of CAI's Amicus Curiae Advisory Committee and Board of Trustees. 

Amicus Curiae Brief Request Submission Procedures

A.  Anyone may request amicus curiae assistance. All requests should include a cover letter or memo that includes the timeline for filing the brief, whether a motion for leave must be filed before or with the brief, and the names of local attorneys who would be able to assist in drafting and editing the brief. To serve as a CAI amicus curiae brief author, an attorney must, except in extraordinary circumstances, be a member of CAI in good standing. All requests must be submitted electronically via one single PDF document, and shall  include the following materials, arranged in order by labeled bookmarks, dividers or hyperlinks that follow a complete table of contents of all materials submitted:

1.  A detailed, but concise executive summary that may be used by CAI for general overview and reference purposes. The executive summary must contain a) a brief written summary of the case; b) the name of the attorney selected to draft the amicus brief (must be a CAI member attorney); c) information on the jurisdiction and level of court for which the brief will be filed; d) a simplified summary of appellate issues, the appellant's main argument, and respondent's main argument; e) why CAI should file an amicus brief in the case and what argument should be advanced; (f) the due date to complete and file the brief with the court
2.  A description of the importance of the issue to the development of community association law, including whether the issue(s) is/are of state or national importance
3.  The lower court decision
4.  Any relevant submissions by either party
5.  Any pertinent court cases or statutes
6.  The association documents
7.  Any additional information that might be of use in evaluating the request

B.  The request should be sent to:

CAI Amicus Committee
C/O Government & Public Affairs Department
government@caionline.org 

C. If you are unable to identify a CAI attorney to author your brief, you may find qualified counsel by viewing CAI's College of Community Association Lawyers directory to help locate an appropriate author here. CAI amicus briefs do not need to be authored by an attorney from the same state as that of the amicus brief-sponsoring law firm.