Legal briefs may have some features that are not ones that most people commonly use. Although many of us know the basics for formatting in Microsoft Word, there are some advanced features available that can make formatting briefs much easier.
Microsoft Word provides tools for creating tables of contents and splitting papers in to different sections for page numbers. Below are links to pages with some videos on performing formatting tasks.
Page Numbering addresses problems that come up with page numbering, including how to number across different sections.
Table of Contents provides instruction on manually creating or automating a table of contents for your work.
Table of Authorities discusses how to automate a table of authorities.
Frequently in legal briefs, you may be expected to create several sections including:
Contracts also may have several sections that you would like to individually number.
The video on this page provides a nice example of how to number discrete sections in Microsoft Word.
Microsoft also has a page of written instructions on how to number different sections of a document.
Although this says is it is for Office 2010, the same techniques should be usable with current versions of Word.
Rule 28 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure requires a table of contents to be included in Appellant, Appellee, and Reply briefs.
State court procedural rules also frequently require a table of contents to be included in briefs.
A table of contents lists the sections of the brief and what page each section starts on.
Best practices would entail including subsections within the table of contents also.
The videos on this page provide instructions for building tables of contents in Microsoft Word either automatically or manually.
Microsoft also has downloadable written instructions on how to build a table of contents.
How to Create a Manual Table of Contents. Although this says is it is for Word 2016, the same techniques should be usable with current versions of Word.
Microsoft Word's automated Table of Contents tool can insert and update page numbers for you. Although this says is it is for Word 2013, the same techniques should be usable with current versions of Word.
Rule 28 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure requires a table of authorities to be included in Appellant, Appellee, and Reply briefs.
State court procedural rules also frequently require a table of authorities to be included in briefs.
A table of authorities lists every legal authority cited in the brief, along with the page numbers on which the citations occur.
The types of authorities (statutes, regulations, cases, etc.) are generally listed separately within the table.
The video on this page provides a nice example of how to build a table of authorities in Microsoft Word.
Microsoft also has a page of written instructions on how to build a table of authorities.
Although this says is it is for Word 2010, the same techniques should be usable with current versions of Word.
There are ways to control the appearance of your brief with margins, rulers, and line spacing.
Margins are the blank spaces along the top, bottom, left, and right sides of your document.
Rulers can be used to indent paragraphs and set tabs. This can be useful to indent block quotations you may be using.
Line spacing can change the amount of space text takes up. Follow guidelines set by courts or in-house standards when determining line spacing. The two most common choices are single-spaced an double-spaced.
