The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
Line Numbering in Trial-Court Pleadings and Motions
Many trial courts expect line numbers in pleadings and motions to appear on the left. Since the text is double-spaced, the line numbers are generally likewise double-spaced.
But in my experience, it has been hard to keep the line numbers (entered through a special text box on the right-hand margin, for instance) aligned with the text, especially when some parts of the text (such as headings and block quotes) are single-spaced. I understand that courts don't mind that the single-spaced text itself doesn't match the double-spaced numbers, but often the single-spacing throws off the alignment of double-spaced text later on the page. One can fix this by hand-tweaking the spacing after the single-spaced text, but that's a pain, and can get thrown off when changes are made.
Word, to be sure, has its own line numbering feature, under Layout / Line Numbers, and that yields double-spaced numbers for double-spaced text and single-spaced numbers for single-based text. I think that actually makes the most sense—but it's different from what I've seen to be the norm, and I know many lawyers are reluctant to do something like that.
Any suggestions on the best way to deal with this? If so, please let me know.
To get the Volokh Conspiracy Daily e-mail, please sign up here.
Show Comments (34)