How to Format Legal Documents

The proper format for a legal document can vary greatly, depending on the type of document you are drafting and laws of your state. Legal documents will have at least four parts the caption, body, signature block and certificate of service. Generally, there are not written rules regarding what font and type size should be used on legal documents, but most courts prefer that filings be printed in a clear type such as Times New Roman or Arial.


Instructions

• Review the rules of your jurisdiction. Before you begin to draft your document, review your court's rules governing the format and contents of the specific legal papers you are writing. Your state's rules will generally give you samples of common documents such as petitions and motions. You can base your formatting on these models.
• Add a caption. On all legal documents, you will need to add a caption at the top of the first page that lists the names of the parties to the case, the name of the court where the matter is being heard and the case number.
• Name the document. Underneath the caption, you will need to title your document, for example Petition for Divorce or Motion to Dismiss on the Grounds of Jurisdiction.
• Keep it simple. The body of your legal document should contain short, simple paragraphs. Most courts prefer that you number each paragraph so that each element of the document can be identified easily in other documents and in the courtroom proceedings.
• Sign and date it. You must sign and date all legal documents. Most courts also require that you add your contact information below your signature, including your telephone number, mailing address and email address. Most courts prefer that you sign in blue ink since is it difficult to tell whether a document is the original or a photocopy when it is signed in black.
• Certify service. Most documents require a certificate of service. This will state the name of the other party, the opposing party's address and a brief statement describing how you served them the document. You will also need to include what date the document was served. You must also sign the certificate of service.

source : R.A. Anderson

How to Store Legal Documents

Keep valuables and critical legal documents in a fireproof safe, a bank safe deposit box, or both.
During your lifetime you will likely collect numerous legal documents. Marriage licenses, wills, birth certificates, social security cards, tax returns and deeds are the most common legal documents. Some of these documents can be replaced if lost (such as most legal documents issued by the government); others may need to be completely rewritten (such as unrecorded deeds or wills). When choosing how to store your legal documents, rocketlawyer.com suggests keeping in mind two factors security and ease of access.

Things You'll Need

• Fireproof safe
• Locking file cabinet
• Folders

Instructions

Make copies of your important legal documents. Important legal documents pertain to you and your identity. Marriage licenses, birth certificates, social security cards, wills and a list of your bank account numbers are examples of important legal documents.

Store one set of your important legal documents in an emergency kit. Use a fireproof safe that locks. Keep your important documents in the safe and remember where the key is or what the combination is. Keep the safe hidden, yet easily accessible, perhaps in a small closet crawlspace.

Take copies of your important documents and place them in a bank safe deposit box. This creates a backup for your important legal documents and provides you security (although you can't access the documents as quickly if they're not in your home).

Place other legal documents in a locking filing cabinet. Organize the documents by type for ease of access. Other legal documents include less-important items such as tax returns, credit card statements, investment records, bills and paycheck stubs.

Keep tax documents, investment records, and lawsuit judgments in the filing cabinet for seven years. Shred after seven years. Keep bank statements, credit card statements, and paychecks for no longer than one year and then shred; typically you do not need these documents after one year (usually after you file your tax return) and these documents should be destroyed since they contain personal information.


Tips & Warnings
Consider scanning less-important documents to PDF files to save space.


source : George Lawrence

How to File Legal Documents

The rules for filing legal documents differ from state to state. In addition, the specific rules of each courthouse will likely differ. Before attempting to file any legal documents, it is important that you read the rules of civil procedure for your specific state as well as any other administrative rules prescribed by the specific courthouse. But while the specific details differ from courthouse to courthouse, there are several principles that are shared across jurisdictions.

Things You'll Need
Civil rules of procedure
Computer with Internet access
Envelopes

Instructions

• Read the rules. No matter what jurisdiction you are in, it is critically important to read the rules of civil procedure. Visit the website for the courthouse where you will be filing your documents and see if administrative requirements are listed online. You should also go to the clerk's office of the courthouse. Resources may be available there to assist you in following the rules of that court.

• Determine what type of document you need to file. If you are involved in an adversarial proceeding, it is likely you will file a complaint, a motion, a praecipe, or another civil litigation document. It's important to read the rules to determine which type of document you need to file for the specific legal relief you are pursuing. In other words, if you want the court to take a specific action, you need to determine what the appropriate format is to ask the court for relief.

• Draft the document. Draft the document pursuant to the rules of civil procedure and any other rules the individual court prescribes.

• Serve the opposing party or parties if they exist. If you are involved in an adversarial proceeding, you must send copies of your legal document to the other side prior to filing the document. Most jurisdictions require that you send the document by mail. You must also include a certificate of service with the document certifying, by your signature, that you sent the documents to the opposing party.

• File the document. Many jurisdictions require that you physically deliver the document to the clerk's office in the court. It's useful to bring two copies with you. You should file one with the clerk's office and ask for the second to have a file stamp placed on it. That way, you have proof that you filed the specific document should any document get lost. Other jurisdictions allow for e-filing, a process for filing documents online. Again, it is crucial to determine all the appropriate rules and procedures of your jurisdiction.

Tips & Warnings
Filing legal documents is a very difficult process. It's complicated and requires tremendous diligence and extraordinary attention to detail. You should seriously consider whether hiring a qualified attorney, licensed to practice in your jurisdiction, is the better way to proceed.

DISCLAIMER This article is intended to serve as a general overview of how to file legal documents. It is not intended to serve as legal advice. To determine how the law applies to the facts of your particular situation or how to file legal documents in your specific jurisdiction, consult a qualified attorney, licensed to practice law in your state


Source : Joseph Scrofano

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