pleading lines

K

Kerri

I work at a law firm and we are coverting from Wordperfect to Word. We have
used both the pleading wizard and the pleading template available online for
our test run pleadings.

The problem we are encountering is this: The pleading line numbers match up
beautifully when our pleadings are double-spaced, but when we insert single
spaced text (i.e., case citations, lists, etc.) into the pleading, the
subsequent text that must be double spaced does not "line up" with the
pleading line numbers on the left side of the page. Can anyone shed any
light on this? THANK YOU.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Instead of using the line numbers in the Pleading Wizard (which are just
numbers in a text box anchored to the page header), you could try using
Word's line numbering feature (File | Page Setup | Layout: Line Numbering...
 
J

Joe McGuire

Going from WP to Word is not fun. Neither is a root canal. One of those
things will do you some undeniable good. The pain from the other takes a
long time to subside. You will understand this better later. Meanwhile,
both Word and WP have their advantages and disadvantages.

As to creating "pleadings" the most typical uses of this I have seen in the
legal environment have the line numbers in a footer (or is it a header?)
probably created initially using the pleading wizard. Our local courts
don't require this but some of my work involves courts that do. (I think
the requirement is a remnant from the pre-word processing days long ago when
legal stationery was printed with lines and numbers. Most courts did not
actually require line numbering but lawyers probably thought their clients
would be impresssed with something that looked awfully "legal," which
probably made them feel a tad better about how much this was costing them.)
Even though the text of a legal pleading may be double-spaced, the caption
is usually single-spaced. Obviously half of the single-spaced stuff will
end up between line numbers. Double-spacing everything would look bizarre;
so would numbering each line, whether single or double spaced. You really
want to create a template (Word is actually based on templates--a blank
document in Word is based on a template called normal.dot.) You can use the
wizard, particularly to get the vertical lines and line numbers (you will go
nuts trying to do this yourself), but it is almost guaranteed that the
wizard will not produce exactly what you want anyway, so you will have to
tweak the result. Once you have things the way you want you should save the
pleading as a template (*.dot). After that you can pretty much forget the
wizard. Once you are comfortable with using a Word template you might want
to create different templates for courts that may require different formats.
This is a lot better than just keeping one document and using it as a "form"

You set up styles for the components of the pleading, such as Attorney name,
Court Caption, and the like. As a Word Perfect user you should be quite
familiar with the use of styles. Word styles are pretty similar, except
they will not store any text. As a practical matter, if the line numbers
are ordinarily used to refer to the contents of the pleading, brief, etc.
rather than the caption. How to make sure that your double-spaced stuff
lines up with the numbers? Stick a blank line somewhere in the
single-spaced part, such as the very top line of the pleading or arrange the
single spaced stuff so you get another line (or maybe get rid of one).

These links should help get you started:

Word v. WP:
http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm
Some Tips and "Gotchas" for those who are new to Word, especially if
migrating from WordPerfect

http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/TipsAndGotchas.htm

Is There Life After "Reveal Codes"?
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm

WordPerfect to Word converters (and why none of them are perfect)
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordPerfectConverters.htm

For Word's best approximation to Reveal Codes, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm

Word v. WP:
http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm
Styles:
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/index.html
Styles: Using Body Text instead of Normal:

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NormalVsBodyStyles.htm

Customizing the Normal Template:

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CustomizeNormalTemplate.htm

Creating a Template - The Basics (Part I):
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm
What is the relationship between a Word document and its template?

http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/templaterelations\index.html
 
K

Kerri

Yeah, but when I switch to single spacing won't it display line numbers for
the single spaced entries? See, I want there to be only 28 line nos.
displayed on my pleading sheets----always. Please let me know if this is not
the case. Thanks.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

If you just want 28 line numbers displayed, then what is the problem with
the way the Pleading Wizard has it set up?
 
K

Kerri

Because the way the pleading wizard is set up is that it has double spacing
in the actual caption box, which is not what we want. And, once you tweak
it, and then go into the body of the pleading and type 6-7 pages of double
spaced text and then switch to single spaced text and want to go back into
double spaced text it throws the line numbering off.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

I don't see how you can have it both ways. Either you want actual line
numbers or you want 28 line numbers per page, whether or not they bear any
relation to the number of lines.
 

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