How to Copy Legal Documents

Copy Legal Documents

Legal Documents are any papers used by lawyers prior to, during, or after legal proceedings have been completed. These can include such things as lists of evidence, subpoenas and interview transcripts, among others. Legal documents must be copied in a specific way so that they can be referenced easily when after being filed. While it does require a little extra work compared to making regular copies, copying legal documents is not at all difficult.


Things You'll Need
A Copy Machine

Instructions

• Sign anything that needs to be signed on the document with a blue pen. Because copies are made in black-and-white, the blue pen will appear black on the copy. This way, you will always be able to differentiate the original from the copy.

• Copy the documents. Put each page that you need to copy onto the copier's scanner, one at a time. Make sure they are face down and lined up in the scanner. Key in the number of copies you need to make on the keypad and press the SCAN button on the copier to complete the job.

• Stamp each copied page of the documents with the COPY stamp. Every law firm needs to make copies on a daily basis. Because of this, every law firm has at its disposal a rubber stamp that reads COPY in big letters. This is to quickly and easily display that you are looking at a copy of an original document. Take the COPY stamp and stamp every page you've just copied, making sure not to stamp any of the original documents.

Source : Stephen Lilley

How to Cite Legal Documents

Cite Legal Documents

When preparing legal briefs and memorandum, it is very important to properly cite legal sources. Here is how to properly cite cases of law in legal writing using The Bluebook.

Things You'll Need
A case to cite An updated copy of The Bluebook


Instructions

• Find rule 10 in The Bluebook, page 79 in the Eighteenth Edition. Rule 10 explains the rules for citing cases.

• Cite the case name. For example, in Smith v. Jones, Smith is the first party, v. is for versus, and Jones is the second party. The case name is underlined and followed with a comma.

• Find the volume number of the reporter in which the case is found. For example, if Smith v. Jones is found in volume 27 of the Federal Supplements, you would write Smith v. Jones, 27

• Write the abbreviation of the reporter after the volume number. For example, the Smith v. Jones case would be Smith v. Jones, 27 F.Supp. If you do not know what the proper abbreviation is, it can be found in the beginning of the book in which the case is found.

• Include the page number that the case starts on after the reporter. For example, if Smith v. Jones was on pages 64-97, you would write Smith v. Jones, 27 F.Supp. 64. If you are referring to a specific page, add it after the first page number separated by a comma.

• Write the year the case was decided last in parenthesis. For example, is Smith v. Jones was decided in 1975, your complete citation would look like this Smith v. Jones, 27 F.Supp. 64, 89 (1975).

Tips & Warnings
A citation is a sentence and should begin with a capital letter and end with a period. Refer to The Bluebook rules for abbreviating case names.

Source : Jessica Leigh