Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in California

Re: legal pleadings

First of all, consider consulting an attorney about your legal problem, we're here to help!

If you must represent yourself, preparing professional-looking legal pleadings will help your case more than you can imagine (at a minimum, it will ensure that your papers are accepted by the clerk!)

The rules for legal pleading formatting can be found in the California Rules of Court at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/rules . Among other things, the rules specify the type of paper (at least 30% recycled) as well as requirements for line spacing, margins, acceptable type faces, point sizes, and required footers. My favorite word processor for such things is WordPerfect (although MS Word does contain a "legal pleading wizard").

The best exemplars of legal pleadings can be found at your local courthouse -- all case files can be viewed there, and some courts even have imaged documents available over the internet. Get a document that was filed by some high-priced law firm, and plagiarize!

Other things you will have to know include legal time deadlines and how to compute them; and how to "serve" the other party with your document -- remember that copies of nearly all documents must be served on your opponent (or his or her attorney) by someone who is at least 18 years old and who is not you. You will also need to know what words to put in your document!

Court clerks are very persnickety and they love to reject documents, for example if the exhibits aren't properly tabbed or the pleading is not properly 2-hole-punched. Remember the clerk is not allowed to help you in any way that might constitute giving "legal advice" -- if they refuse to answer your question don't take it personally, they have to be fair to both you and your opponent.

If you eventually learn how to prepare legal documents correctly, you might as well go to law school!