I'm frequentely writing legal motions in LaTeX.  I use the letter
class, with some major alterations.  I end up with something that
resembles other motions, but I'm never quite sure if I'm immitating a
document that was styled wrong in the first place (because I'm not a
lawyer).

Does anyone know of a LaTeX class that is designed for writing legal
motions?

Justin Gombos <bogus_addy@bogus_domain.net> wrote:
> I'm frequentely writing legal motions in LaTeX.  I use the letter
> class, with some major alterations.  I end up with something that
> resembles other motions, but I'm never quite sure if I'm immitating a
> document that was styled wrong in the first place (because I'm not a
> lawyer).
> 
> Does anyone know of a LaTeX class that is designed for writing legal
> motions?

If it "looks" like other motions, then it must be right. :-)

-- 
William Park, Open Geometry Consulting, <opengeometry@yahoo.ca>
Linux solution for data management and processing. 

In article <c049j3$12199f$2@ID-99293.news.uni-berlin.de>, William Park wrote:
> 
> If it "looks" like other motions, then it must be right. :-)

I'm sure what I came up with is good enough, but if there is a class
file for this sort of thing that follows some kind of formal standard,
then I'd like to be using it.  Here's what I created using the
letter.cls:

http://www.zianet.com/jgombos/illegal_telemarketing_calls/Motion_to_Reconsider.pdf

Some things I'm not sure about, like the vertical rule.  Most court
documents have many parenthesis in a vertical line, or many |'s.  I'm
not sure if that's actually proper, or if that's someones attempt to
make a vertical rule, or something else like a large brace.

Another thing I'm confused about pertains to documents that have the
plaintiffs and defendants names in all caps.  Most documents I've seen
are styled this way.  But then I came accross a court document that
read something like

   John Doe (improperly named as JOHN DOE)
       Defendant.

So whoever wrote that motion considered all caps to be improper on
previous paperwork.  In an ideal LaTeX world, the authors of these
documents should not be required to know what is proper.  There should
just be a command like \plaintiff{} and \defendant{}, and the machine
should know the correct style.

Maybe there are no standards for this.

Justin Gombos wrote:
> Another thing I'm confused about pertains to documents that have the
> plaintiffs and defendants names in all caps.  Most documents I've seen
> are styled this way.  But then I came accross a court document that
> read something like
> 
>    John Doe (improperly named as JOHN DOE)
>        Defendant.

I think I've heard of people trying to get cases thrown out on grounds
that their name was misspelled on the forms due to being put in
all-caps.  I'm guessing this is the sort of thing that ends up in "how
to get out of a traffic ticket without paying money for a competent
lawyer" books for the gullible -- the tactic, of course, merely ends up
annoying the judge and accomplishing nothing.  It strikes me that that
court document might be an artifact of someone trying that tactic....
 
> Maybe there are no standards for this.

Have you asked, say, a clerk at your local courthouse?  I'd think that
they'd be the people to know if there were standards for these sorts of
thing.

- Brooks


-- 
The "bmoses-nospam" address is valid; no unmunging needed.

In article <40261334.90473CBE@cits1.stanford.edu>, Brooks Moses wrote:
> 
> I think I've heard of people trying to get cases thrown out on
> grounds that their name was misspelled on the forms due to being put
> in all-caps.

There was a case of a Phd working at Los Alamos National Laboratory
who did some hacking in his spare time.  He was accused of a serious
computer crime, and tried to argue for dismissal because his name was
styled with all caps on papers filed by the prosecution.  I don't
recall his name, but he fired is attorney and made that arguement pro
se.  

> Have you asked, say, a clerk at your local courthouse?  I'd think
> that they'd be the people to know if there were standards for these
> sorts of thing.

I could do that, then create a class that follows the standard; but if
there's already one available that's my first choice.  I can see in
the archives others have asked the same question and receive no
response, so I might be stuck with the work.

Justin Gombos <bogus_addy@bogus_domain.net> wrote:
>> Have you asked, say, a clerk at your local courthouse?  I'd think
>> that they'd be the people to know if there were standards for these
>> sorts of thing.

> I could do that, then create a class that follows the standard; but if
> there's already one available that's my first choice.  I can see in
> the archives others have asked the same question and receive no
> response, so I might be stuck with the work.

This doesn't answer your original question at all, but I think the primary
issue here is that styles for legal documents vary quite wildly from
district to district, state to state, court to court, etc.  It seems the
type of thing that any lawyer could pick up and read, so there are some
standards, but certain courts require different types of detailed
information, so the style necessarily changes.

I'd imagine that this is one of the reasons why no one has gone to great
lengths to create a widely useable style.

-- 
Brian Blackmore
blb8 at po dot cwru dot edu

Centuries ago, Nostradamus foresaw when Brooks Moses <bmoses-nospam@cits1.stanford.edu> would write:
> Justin Gombos wrote:
>> Another thing I'm confused about pertains to documents that have the
>> plaintiffs and defendants names in all caps.  Most documents I've seen
>> are styled this way.  But then I came accross a court document that
>> read something like
>> 
>>    John Doe (improperly named as JOHN DOE)
>>        Defendant.
>
> I think I've heard of people trying to get cases thrown out on
> grounds that their name was misspelled on the forms due to being put
> in all-caps.  I'm guessing this is the sort of thing that ends up in
> "how to get out of a traffic ticket without paying money for a
> competent lawyer" books for the gullible -- the tactic, of course,
> merely ends up annoying the judge and accomplishing nothing.  It
> strikes me that that court document might be an artifact of someone
> trying that tactic....

This sort of thing is common to various sorts of "tax protestors;"
they may argue that whomever was called to court "isn't me, because MY
name is 'John Doe', not 'JOHN DOE.'"

Alternatively, if there is a fringe on the flag, then that implies
that the court is an "admiralty court," which can therefore only act
non matters of maritime law, and since the case in question was clearly
based on land, then there is no jurisdiction.

The arguments are all nonsense, of course.

It makes a lot of sense to have \defendant{} and \plaintiff{} macros
that would do things in whatever the jurisdiction in question _wants_.
Formats for legal documents certainly vary from jurisdiction to
jurisdiction.
-- 
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because it's cold in there. And I'm like: How did my mother know THAT?
--Wendy Liebman

In article <40261334.90473CBE@cits1.stanford.edu>, Brooks Moses wrote:
> 
> Have you asked, say, a clerk at your local courthouse?  I'd think
> that they'd be the people to know if there were standards for these
> sorts of thing.

I asked the clerk that, and she didn't say anything; as if to not
understand me.  Then I asked her if I styled the motion (which I just
handed her) properly, and she looked at it and said it's fine.  

I created that motion by using different conventions I saw in other
motions that were posted online, all in different jurisdictions.  So
it seems there may not be an official standard.  Maybe next I'll try
adding some color :)

In article <c06aq6$ocu$1@nntp6.u.washington.edu>, Brian Blackmore wrote:
> 
> This doesn't answer your original question at all, but I think the
> primary issue here is that styles for legal documents vary quite
> wildly from district to district, state to state, court to court,
> etc.  It seems the type of thing that any lawyer could pick up and
> read, so there are some standards, but certain courts require
> different types of detailed information, so the style necessarily
> changes.

I'm finding that even if there is a standard, my local metro court is
at least tolerant of non-standard submissions.  I've submitted motions
that are formed very close to a letter, and some that use a
combination of different styles I noticed others using in other
states.  Nothing has been refused by the clerks, and I have not
received any feedback on this subject.

So I think it would be useful if there were some LaTeX classes for the
purpose of creating generic legal documents.  If someone lives in a
jurisdiction that's anal about detail, then it would be a matter of
mod'ing the macros.

Right now I could really use one for creating an appeal.  I just
downloaded a 30 page PDF appeal form, designed for pro se litigants.
The instructions require that it be typed, and to use the typewriter
at the library.  Luckily I have Scansoft Paperport (so I can annotate
the form w/ software).. but that's commercialware.  Creating something
from scratch in LaTeX would be better than using paperport, because
there is still a fixed amount of space allocated to each question.

I guess there are no latex classes for this need, so at least for now
I'll fill out the form in paperport.