Legal Document Formatting Practices
Understanding legal documents formatting is paramount to ensuring that a document is fully in accordance with the law, while also looking as professional as possible. Making sure that is a correct legal format leaves no doubt to the intention of the document and shows that every detail has been accounted for. Legal formatting aides in interpreting provisions and sections within the document that may be ambiguous or difficult to read, such as paragraphs, sub-paragraphs, interjections, and quotations.
Legal document formatting is also a way of showing the level of professionalism required of an attorney. From pleadings to motions, legal documents can be seen as a representation of mediation, arbitration and litigation law firms, which is why it is crucial that legal documents meet a high standard . If an attorney allows a document with improper formatting to be created, filed or sent, it could be seen as a sign that the lawyer doesn’t really care about his or her work, is too busy to pay attention to detail, or that the attorney doesn’t know what he or she is doing.
Therefore, it is imperative to ensure that all legal documents are correctly formatted to maintain a high standard of professionalism while aiding the interpretation of the provisions by which the document is filed. Formatting for pleadings, motions and other documents such as pleadings, discovery, correspondence, subpoenas, and others can be both time consuming and challenging, which is why many attorneys choose to use a legal document formatting service to make sure it is completed quickly and with a high level of quality.
Single or Double Sided Legal Documents
"Single" and "double sided" are terms that are often used to describe how legal documents are formatted in print. But what does it mean, and which is best for you? Here we describe the basics.
In their simplest forms, "single sided" means that each piece of paper contains a single page of print, while "double sided" means that each piece of paper contains two pages of print, one on each side. Keep in mind that there are many exceptions and that the terms have a wide variety of meanings. In addition, not all printers handle double sided pages in the same manner.
Paper is expensive, however legal documents are often very long. Many times the only way to reduce legal printing / copying costs when pages are increasing in number is to reduce the number of pieces of paper being used. In other words, the longer the document, the more likely it is that multiple sided pages will be used. When the use of double sided pages is appropriate, many lawyers, law firms and corporate law departments will use paper on both sides to save time and money.
The most common formats for legal documents are 8.5 x 11 inches or 8.5 x 14 inches. Rarely do documents exceed these lengths.
While single sided sheets are generally easier to read, double sided documents are much less costly to produce and require less storage space. When storing an electronic legal document, electronic storage costs often exceed the cost of storage for a double sided page.
When drafting legal documents that you expect other people to read, you may want to consider a single sided format so as to avoid confusion about the contents of the document. The confusion is caused by the lack of uniformity in the placement of cover pages, dividing pages, table of contents pages, title pages and appendices.
In addition, a uniform approach to document page placement makes it possible correctly refer to different portions of a document and insert pages with the correct number.
If you have experience with the original versions of various legal documentation formatting standards you may also notice many other benefits of creating necessary documents in a single sided approach.
Legal Side Requirements for Double Sided Documents
The short answer is that the overwhelming majority of cases do allow double sided printing but there are a significant number of exceptions. What is even more important is that exceptions tend to vary by county, court, judge and in some cases specific departments or divisions and courtrooms. Since typical courthouse rules and guidelines have not been amended to reflect changes in technology, they are not always accurate. Further adding to the confusion is the fact that rules governing both appellate and trial level filings often permit double sided printing while prescriptive local, department and courtroom specific guidelines do not. Many courts still list "single space" typeface and "pica" or "elite" fonts as a requirements. As such, the vast majority of clerks are older and use high-speed copiers so that pica or elite in 12 point font appear as single-space in 10 point font. Even where the court rules do list a minimum font size, it may not be a mandatory requirement. The California style guide states that "double sided printing is the rule, not the exception." Part II Section 13.1. The rule does not, however, apply to all documents. Rule 8.40 states, "Only original documents shall be filed with the court, and each document shall appear on one side of the page only, except for two-sided forms and exhibits." (Italics added). Note here that it does not state "only one side of the page should be printed." The case of VSI Management Group v. Sup. Ct. (Office Depot) (2000) 79 Cal.App.4th 88 provides a rare example where a writ issued against an order requiring double sided submissions to the court specifically noted that the order was based on the fact that the case involved a business dispute. As such, the court found its order to be an abuse of discretion. In contrast, small claims, unlawful detainer and other "fast-tracked" litigation has become known for requiring multiple copies of filings, copies of both sides, or exhibit pages affixed to the back of pleadings and so forth. Even within these case types, local and division specific idiosyncrasies and local practices have been known to directly counteract statewide rules. In sum, unless your document is an appellate brief, you cannot rely on the rules of court for an answer to the question of whether your filing should be double-sided. It is always best to check with a courtroom clerk before deciding to print double-sided, particularly if you have followed office protocol only to receive a pile of rejected filings.
Cost and Environmental Impact of Double Sided Printing
Double sided legal documents can bring considerable environmental benefits. In the absence of a hard number, how much paper is wasted by the average law firm each year? It’s gone past 5 maps or 100 memos or 250,000 pages of examination for discovery transcripts. However, a look at Statistics Canada numbers can provide some perspective.
- They suggest there are some 5 million employed Canadians in the private sector (excluding public sector)
- These Canadians produced 110 billion sheets of paper in 2000
- This is 22 thousand sheets of paper per employee, per year
- Or, just over 200,000 pages of paper per lawyer at most Canadian law firms
Clearly double sided law documents reduce paper use. When you also consider legal content is almost always prevalent on internal legal documents (for example, boilerplate contract terms, standard correspondence, etc.), the paper cost of law firms that choose to use single-sided printing today is easily multiplied by 2 or more (at least) for the average firm.
And paper isn’t free. Double sided legal documents will inevitably lead to reduced paper costs for law firms. Paper is about $2 — up 20% since 2005. Office Depot lists the price for a carton of paper (31 boxes of 500 sheets of paper) at $57.49 (a 6% reduction this month). Our discount price for a carton of paper is about $52.00, at 60% reduction off the regular price.
This suggests conventional law firms using single sided printing today would spend as much as $12,400 on just paper. For large firms that is over $160,000. Certainly even larger and more expensive legal documents printed double sided take this cost and multiply it by 2 or 3.
Today’s modern law firm has the flexibility to implement double sided printing. As our Canadian workplace evolves, more and more law firms will implement double sided legal documents as a commonplace production.
Double Sided Document Practical Considerations
When deciding whether to print legal documents for clients or other attorneys double sided, there are certainly practical considerations. First, depending on how old your printer is, you may have to buy a new one. Old inkjet printers will not handle double sided printing.
Assuming money is not a problem, then you may want to consider a color laser printer. You may be able to get away with an inkjet printer those times when you have to occasionally do double sided printing, but if you are going to do it frequently, you will want a color laser printer.
You also will need to consider the paper quality you are doing to use for double sided printing. If you look at a loan document, it is printed on a very thin type of bond paper. But there are other types of paper that you could use. For instance, a cover stock would be too thick. Instead of 20 pound bond paper , you should consider 24 or 27 pound for the actual document. You should also consider the quality of the coverstock board you will use if the document is bound. For some bound documents, the coverstock board comes pre-printed on one side to accept a "flap". Some documents just use a plain cover. These are also issues to think about when deciding whether to print double sided.
Also, consider a practice management solution to include providing you both versions of a document since it would only require someone to manually push a button rather than staff to pull the control and try to print the pages top to bottom. For example, I have seen some cases where the first page was printed on the front of the first sheet, the second page was put back to be printing on the back of the first sheet, both were printed on the second sheet, when the pettiest was half an inch longer than the doit page.
Common Questions & Misunderstanding of Double Sided Legal Documents
When the decision is made to print legal documents double sided, there are common concerns and misconceptions that arise. The first of these involves overall readability. Although certain graphic elements, such as a thick header that spans the entire width of the page, can be problematic, in most cases, the average legal document can be printed double sided without any issues regarding readability. Another related area of concern is whether printing a document double sided violates legal norms. We’ll get into more detail concerning this question below, but for the most part it is acceptable to print legal documents double sided unless an opposing counsel and/or judge express a specific objection. And even then, in most courts, there are no blanket prohibitions on double sided printing.
Another related concern is whether or not double sided printing is appropriate when dealing with original documents. Speaking generally, there are no issues with eliminating blank pages and working around headers during double sided printing of original documents.
Double Sided Legal Document Best Practices
When deciding to opt for double-sided legal documents, there are a few best practices to keep in mind. Unless instructed otherwise, the standard should be to still number the pages as a single page, and not as a two-page or three-page section. Regardless of the length of a legal document, you’ll want to maintain this page numbering system throughout. Make it a point to minimize the amount of blank space you leave in between any two paragraphs. Whether you’re printing double-sided or not, you need to make sure your documents don’t have too much dead space on them, since there’s a good chance that it simply could be an indication that a page is illegible or left out of a submission folder. This could become costly if the court or other party requires you to resubmit the entire document again. Another practice you should incorporate into your double-sided legal documents is to ensure that your numbering system is distinct and can be easily identified. For instance , if you ever submit a filing with brief, transcript, and motion pages, consider numbering them as tabs 1, 2, or whatever combination you think works, so you can quickly identify the numbers of pages and major components that comprise the filing. There are also some basic guidelines you should follow to ensure that your double-sided legal documents maintain their quality. Make sure you maintain margins of at least one inch and a consistent font throughout the document. Be sure that, regardless of how long a legal document is, it will be tabbed and available at a moment’s notice, both for yourself and, if necessary, with the filing clerk. Sometimes, if your document is too long, you could consider the use of color on its various pages as a way to distinguish them, if you fear that you may misplace anything while working with the documents.