(A) Preparation of the bill of exceptions shall commence from the date the request to prepare the bill of exceptions and notice of appeal is filed with the clerk of the court from which the appeal is taken, or if the request to prepare the bill of exceptions was not filed with the notice of appeal, upon order of the appellate court granting appellant leave to file the request to prepare the bill of exceptions out of time, or upon timely filing of such request by appellee. Upon filing the notice of appeal and request for preparation of the bill of exceptions, the clerk of the lower court shall forthwith notify the court reporting personnel of the filing. If the request  to prepare the bill of exceptions is not filed with the notice of appeal, the clerk of the lower court shall follow § 2-105(B)(2)(f), and the court reporting personnel shall not begin preparation of the bill of exceptions until leave of the appellate court is granted. The court reporting personnel shall prepare only those portions specified in the request for preparation of the bill of exceptions.

   (B) The bill of exceptions shall be filed in the court from which the appeal is taken within the following time limits unless an extension of time is approved by the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals as set forth in § 2-105(C) above. The time period begins on the date the estimate of cost is due to be paid by the requesting party:

Civil cases or criminal trials                    7 weeks
Guilty or nolo contendere pleas           3 weeks
Juvenile transfer appeals                        3 weeks

   (C) All bills of exceptions prepared for a case on appeal shall be filed in the court from which the appeal is taken, or where applicable, in the appellate court, in electronic form, as the official record, notwithstanding any format requested by any party or counsel. Where there is an electronic bill of exceptions, no printed bound volumes of the bill of exceptions shall be filed with the court.

   (D) Form of the Bill of Exceptions.

   (1) Index. The bill of exceptions shall have an index, which shall be the first item in the first volume. The index shall show:

   (a) each witness in the order called, and for whom called, and the initial page of the direct, cross, redirect, and recross examination,

   (b) motions to dismiss or to instruct a verdict and any other motions of major import, and stipulations, together with the rulings of the court thereon, and the page or pages where made and ruled on, and

   (c) all exhibits, with a description, and the initial page where marked, offered, ruled on, and found.

   (2) Bookmarks. The bill of exceptions shall contain bookmarks, linking to a specific page or section in the bill of exceptions. Bookmarks shall correspond with the index.

   (E) Format. Each page of the bill of exceptions shall be formatted to accommodate printing on 8 ½ inches by 11 inches of paper and shall have line and page numbers and be portrait orientation. The bill of exceptions shall be in a converted PDF (fully text searchable), rather than a scanned image PDF format. The text shall be in not smaller than 12 point font, double spaced, with not less than 12 points of leading. Preferred fonts shall be Century or Century Schoolbook. Other allowed fonts are Times New Roman, Baskerville Old Face, Book Antiqua, or Palatino. The pages shall be numbered consecutively. Each page of the bill of exceptions shall have line numbers in the left-hand margin from 1 to 25, inclusive, and the lines of typing shall be placed to correspond therewith. No margin line shall exceed ½ inch from the righthand edge of the page. The full name of each witness and whether the examination is direct, cross, or further examination shall be stated at the top of each page of the witness’ testimony. Each volume of the bill of exceptions shall not exceed 50 MB in size. The bill of exceptions shall be visually neat.

   (F) Certificate. The certificate of the court reporting personnel or contracted court transcriber shall be found as the last page in the verbatim bill of exceptions, or as the last page in the last volume of the bill of exceptions, if there are multiple verbatim volumes. The certificate shall not be found in any exhibits volume, whether documentary or media. The certificate of the official court reporter or transcriber shall include a statement of the cost of the bill of exceptions and a showing that such amount is one permitted to be charged by § 2-105(B)(4) and Neb. Ct. R. § 1-218.

   (G) Any request for preparation of a bill of exceptions or supplemental bill of exceptions filed after January 1, 2022, shall be governed by these rules regardless if the matter was held, heard, or determined prior to January 1, 2022.

§ 2-105.01 adopted June 9, 2021, effective January 1, 2022; § 2-105.01 amended November 17, 2021, effective January 1, 2022; § 2-105.01(A) and (B) amended May 17, 2023.