Formatting Briefs Using Microsoft Word

Transcription

1 Advocacy Spring 2014 Formatting Briefs Using Microsoft Word Good formatting matters. A cleanly formatted brief is not only easier to read, it gives a first impression of care and professionalism that makes your reader expect that the brief will be a good one. There are several specific things you ll need to know how to do to format your appellate brief: How to paginate different sections of the brief differently (using Roman and Arabic numerals); How to format headings; How to create a table of contents; How to create a table of authorities. This document contains some basic information about how to do those things manually and some links to sources that provide more detailed instructions about how to use Microsoft Word to automate the creation of the table of contents and the table of authorities. Be aware, however, that many courts have local rules regarding formatting. And for purposes of this class, you should follow your professor s specific formatting instructions. In order to use these instructions effectively, there are some basic functions of Word you ll need to know. The most important is the ability to view the hidden formatting marks (examples include paragraph and tab marks). On the home tab of the recent versions of Word for Windows (and in similar places of some versions of Word for Macs), view those formatting marks by pressing the paragraph mark ( ) on the home tab of the ribbon. (If you don t see that symbol on your Mac, you can press 8 to toggle the formatting marks on and off.) The other important thing you need to be able to do, of course, is to use the help functions. Internet guides to formatting briefs using Microsoft Word The Law Library at the University of Montana Law School has written instructions about inserting page numbers and creating automatic tables of contents and tables of authorities. They are at If you prefer video tutorials, there are some good ones available on the website of the Pace University Law School Law Library. The two main videos are about 10 minutes each. They are at Alternatively, Prof. Stokstad has posted two videos regarding pagination and automatic formatting using Word for Windows. They are at and

2 Other sources regarding general principles of formatting Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers (2010). Bryan A. Garner, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (3d ed. 2013) (contains guides to punctuation, grammar, and usage as well as formatting). How to paginate the different sections of the brief An appellate brief traditionally has different page numbers in three sections: the cover page, which has no page number; the table of contents and the table of authorities, which are paginated with lower case Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, etc.) at the bottom center of the page; and the body of the brief, which is paginated with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) at the bottom center of the page. The trick to getting the separate numbering in Word is to divide the document into three sections. You do that by inserting a Section Break (next page) at the end of the cover page and at the end of the Table of Authorities. (There are several kinds of section breaks; be sure to choose the one labeled next page. ) You can find the section break options under the insert menu or the page layout menu, depending on your version of Word. Then you can insert the pagination in the footer of TOC/TOA and in the main part of the brief. When you insert the page numbers, click format in the pagination dialog box to choose Roman or Arabic numerals and select the starting value. For more detailed instructions, see the Preparing your Document tab in the University of Montana instructions at How to format headings manually It is possible to use the styles function in Microsoft Word to ensure that all your headings are formatted consistently. Using styles also enables the automatic generation of a table of contents. If you want more information about how to do that, the internet guides on the first page describe the process. There are three important things you may not know how to do: (1) set a hanging indent; (2) turn off automatic formatting of numbered lists; and (3) keep headings together with the text that follows them. Step 1: Set a hanging indent If your heading is more than one line, you need to set a hanging indent so that the text on the second line nicely matches up with the formatting on the first line. A hanging indent looks like this: 2

3 I. The District Court s grant of summary judgment on Frank Boyd s claims should be reversed because there are genuine issues of material fact. To do that, set a hanging indent by dragging the arrows on the ruler as shown below. (If you can t see the ruler, go to the view tab on the ribbon and click on Ruler in the Show/Hide portion.) The top arrow shows where the first line begins and the bottom arrow shows where all subsequent lines begin. The spacing between them can be less than 0.5 if you prefer. If you wish to further indent a subheading, both arrows would be further to the right and the same distance apart. (Obviously, all subheadings of the same level should be indented the same amount.) When you type the heading, press Tab between the number and the beginning of the text. Alternatively, you can enter the information manually in the Paragraph dialog box. In the Indents and Spacing tab of the that dialog box, choose hanging indent under special. Step 2: Turn off automatic numbering The first time you create a heading that includes a Roman numeral (e.g. II) or an Arabic numeral (e.g. 1), Word is likely to try to format the heading for you. This annoying feature will mess up your formatting. For example, when you type I. and then press tab (as you should; don t ever format using spaces), Word will probably indent it for you in a way you didn t want. To return it to your desired formatting, click on the little lightning bolt that has appeared to the left of the text. Choose stop automatically creating numbered lists. Step 3: Keep headings together with the following text A heading should never be alone at the very bottom of a page, a problem called an orphaned heading. To prevent this from happening, you need to first select the heading and any blank lines that follow it. Then you need to tweak the settings in the line and page breaks tab of the paragraph dialog box. In Windows, the easiest way to get to that dialog box is to right click on the selected heading and choose paragraph. Then go to the line and page breaks tab. On a Mac, select paragraph from the format menu and go to the line and page breaks tab. Once you re at the line and page breaks dialog box, check keep lines together and keep with next. How to format the Table of Contents manually It is possible to automatically create a table of contents in Word, but it is somewhat complicated. If you want to know how to do it, either watch the videos or read the instructions that the first 3

4 page of this document has links to. But even if you are doing it manually, there are a few things you should know to smooth the process and improve the results: Step 1: Wait until the end! If you are manually formatting your table of contents, wait until you have completely finished the text of your brief. Otherwise, you are likely to mess up by changing the headings in your text and forgetting to change them in your TOC. Step 2: Paste headings into the table of contents and format the page numbers First copy and paste your headings from the text into your table of contents. If pasting them changes the indentation, click on the little clipboard icon that appears below what you paste and choose keep source formatting. Alternatively, some people prefer to have all the headings in the table of contents flush with the left margin. Then reformat the headings as follows: 1. Adjust the margins First select all the headings in the TOC. Then look at the ruler. There s another triangle at the right side. Drag that to about 6, which will make sure there s a bit of space between your headings and the page numbers. 2. Add a right tab and add the tab leaders (the dots) Don t insert a series of periods between the heading and the page numbers! You ll drive yourself crazy and never get the page numbers lined up neatly. Instead, use tab leaders. To do that, first keep all your headings in the TOC selected. Then go to the tabs dialog box and adjust the settings as follows: In Windows, first pull up the paragraph dialog box by right-clicking on the heading and choosing paragraph. Now bring up the tabs dialog box by clicking on the tabs button at the lower left of the paragraph dialog box. In the tabs dialog box, type 6.5 in the tab stop position box, choose right in the alignment section, choose the dots (option 2) in the tab leader section, and finally click the set button at the bottom. Finally, insert a tab at the end of each heading. On a Mac it s much easier to get the tabs dialog box. To the left of the horizontal ruler, just above the vertical ruler, there s a little box with what looks like a bent arrow in it. Click on it. Choose tabs from the drop-down menu, which brings up the dialog box for tabs. Type 6.5 in the tab stop position box, choose right in the alignment section, choose the dots (option 2) in the tab leader section, and finally click the set button at the bottom. Finally, insert a tab at the end of each heading. 3. Add your page numbers To the right of the dots, add your page numbers. Be sure to double-check them as a final step before you turn in your brief. Step 3: Clean up any other formatting. You may wish to change all the headings in the table of contents to plain text to make them easier to read, but do whatever your professor or supervisor prefers. 4

5 Finally, adjust the spacing. First make sure that headings are all single-spaced. Then adjust the spacing between the headings to something that looks nice. You can do that crudely by inserting a blank line between each heading. Or you can get finer control by selecting all the headings, opening the paragraph dialog box, and choosing a value between about 6 (about a half a line) and 12 (about a full line) in the spacing after box. How to format the Table of Authorities manually Much of the same advice regarding the formatting of a table of contents applies here as well. Again, it is possible to use Word to automatically create a table of authorities, but it is somewhat complicated to do so. If you want to know how to do it, either watch the videos or read the instructions that the first page of this document has links to. Step 1: Wait until the end! Again, do not create your Table of Authorities until you have completely finished the text of your brief. Otherwise, you may end up with the wrong pages for your citations. Step 2: Paste citations into the Table of Authorities and organize them into groups Go through your brief and paste the full citation for every source into the Table of Authorities. Don t forget to check all the sections in the brief. The Statement of Jurisdiction, for example, always includes citations. Then follow these instructions: 1. Edit your citations As you paste the citations in, you may have to change them slightly. Use the full citation, not a short form. Omit any pinpoint page references. In other words, if your first full citation in the text of the brief is Smith v. Jones, 21 F.2d 81, 84 (2d Cir. 1965), the entry in the Table of Authorities would not include the pinpoint page reference to page 84. It would read, Smith v. Jones, 21 F.2d 81 (2d Cir. 1965). Be consistent in your use of abbreviations: use the Table 6 and Table 10 abbreviations either for all of the case names or for none of them. 2. Organize your citations into groups and add headings for the groups Briefs typically list Constitutional provisions, statutes, cases, and secondary sources (if any) in separate groups, each with its own heading. Brief writers sometimes further divide cases into subcategories, especially when there are many cases. For example, in a brief filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, there might be subheadings for cases from the United States Supreme Court, from the Second Circuit, and from other courts. Follow local rules, local practice, or your professor s preferences. Step 3: Add page numbers Adjust the margins and tabs, and add tab leaders, following the instructions for creating a table of contents. Then, to the right of the tab leaders, add the page numbers on which the citations 5

6 appear. Pages are typically separated by commas, with ranges indicated by hyphens. When a case appears throughout the brief, writers will sometimes replace a long list of pages with the word passim (meaning throughout ). There is no universally accepted guideline regarding how many pages a citation should appear on before the use of passim is appropriate, but be consistent within your brief. Be sure to double-check the page numbers as a final step before you turn in your brief. 6