What are Legal Exhibit Stickers?
Legal exhibit stickers are numbered or lettered adhesive labels that identify the various items entered in a case as evidence or testimony. Courts, lawyers, and paralegals use them as part of the process of introducing evidence in a case, making them one of the most important tools in the evidence process. Also known as evidentiary or trial stickers, their main purpose is to keep accurate documentation throughout a legal proceeding. The headers of legal exhibit stickers typically contain the name of the person who prepared the exhibit, an exhibit number, and the date it was created. While legal exhibit stickers might differ slightly from production to production, they generally follow the same format to provide a conventional way to label documents and evidence for court case organization. For example, in a civil court case, the plaintiff marks their evidence with letters . If the plaintiff goes to present evidence at a trial, they would enter exhibit A through exhibit X. The defense would then label their documents with the letters A through Z. In a criminal court case, the plaintiff and the defense mark evidence with numbers. Each piece of evidence is then introduced into the case by the order in which it was introduced. Because legal exhibit stickers must be presented in the correct order for the trial process to retain its structure, they can prove useful during the discovery process as well. The timing of discovery helps the plaintiff and the defense prepare for upcoming trials, which requires introducing specific evidence. The orderly numerical and alphabetical structure of legal exhibit stickers helps organize the evidence in order of presentation, which can save time later on in the discovery process.
Different Types of Legal Exhibit Stickers
The types of legal exhibit stickers available adhere to different standards and specific uses. First and foremost, you’ll find color-coded and numeric stickers. These colors commonly follow a color code established by the court system; however, there is no universal standard for colors, leaving some confusion as to what exactly is required.
Numeric stickers are different in that they are usually ordered sequentially during the discovery process, such as the example above where 1 would be the first sticker on a page, 2 would be the second sticker with new information, 3 would be the third sticker with new information, etc. These stickers are affixed to the bottom of the documents being introduced as evidence.
Both types of stickers can be affixed to both electronic files stored in a virtual data room or physical documents, allowing some basic preparations to be made before a trial.
How to Utilize Legal Exhibit Stickers
Implementing best practices in advance can ensure that your entire case unfolds crystal clearly and without any confusion or ambiguity. Below are a few guidelines to help you out.
1. Placement of Legal Exhibit Stickers
Teach yourself to exhibit stamps right away, so that once you get comfortable with the process, you won’t have to worry in the thick of litigation about whether you stamped Exhibit 16 instead of Exhibit 15, etc. An easy way to do this is to attach an exhibit sticker to the left ot right side of your computer monitor so that you have to remind yourself where you put it. Gradually work on developing a method of applying them consistently. For example, some people prefer placing the stickers flush against the bottom of the page, while others apply them further up, like a watermark. Whatever system you use, make sure it’s consistent.
2. Labeling of Legal Exhibit Stickers
Again, once you get comfortable applying your numbered exhibit stickers, you can get comfortable using a consistent method of numbering and adding information to them. For example, it’s common to put a typewritten label on the sticker indicating you received a Bates number for the page, or indicating you received such a number from opposing counsel.
3. Use Their Own Template – Stickers for Interrogatories, Requests for Admission and Requests for Production
Use their own template for corporate interrogatories, requests for admission and requests for production. When you are served with these pleadings, for example, you get the template right in the first page, so it’s easy to run off a bunch of them and apply the stickers to the opposing party’s documents, and then serve them back.
4. Avoiding Common Mistakes
Make sure to check your pleadings before returning them, to make sure you did not miss any pages that needed stickers. Again, reviewing the exhibits in order can help you. Set aside a pile of stickers and another pile of designated pages, so you can keep track at any time of which ones you have completed, and which ones remain.
Not all legal exhibit stickers are created equal – if you are interested in learning more, please feel free to visit the website of Legal Exhibit Stickers.
Where to Purchase Legal Exhibit Stickers
There are multiple suppliers that provide legal exhibit stickers. Although law schools would have you believe that there are only a few select suppliers, they are not the only game in town and it is wise to cast your net wider than that when looking for an exhibit supplier. There are many suppliers that provide great service and quality at a great price. In addition, most major office supply retail outlets also carry them.
iLegal and iLegal.net are two of our sister sites that also sell not just legal exhibit stickers but also numerous other legal supplies. We also carry the entire line of standard exhibit supplies, including post binders, D-rings, and report covers, as well as software for document preparation. Ilegal also carries binders specifically designed for trial. Disclosure: I founded iLegal and iLegal.net.
The Legal Exhibit Company, based in Wisconsin, is another national service provider of legal supplies and exhibit products. They even provide a one hour turn around on typical orders.
Two other online suppliers are Allstate Legal Supply and Legal-Panels, both of whom we have purchased from.
If you have an exhibit supplier that you have used and had a good experience with, please let us know and we will add them to this list.
Custom Legal Exhibit Stickers vs. Pre-Made
While convenience is often touted as the main benefit of pre-made legal stickers, they are not the only option. The type of sticker you select should relate to your needs in the case.
Pre-Made Stickers/Labels While many off-the-shelf options are available, pre-made stickers or labels traditionally feature standardized colors, fonts and sizes. These tend to be more affordable than custom stickers, but they also tend to be less flexible.
If you know which documents you’re exhibiting, then pre-made stickers may make sense for you. But in some cases, the flexibility that comes with custom stickers may be a better fit.
Potential Scenarios For example, when exhibiting stacks of relatively similar documents, consider pre-made stickers, because you can select a large batch of all of the same color. This will mean fewer trips back and forth to the copy machine for stickers in different colors .
On the other hand, if the types of documents you need to exhibit vary widely, custom stickers may be a better bet, because you can strategically design the creation process in a way that’s time efficient. Even if your sticker printer creates several hundred stickers at once, you might want to distribute them based on your strategy.
For example, say you need three dozen citations and 10 big exhibits. You might want your printer to create two sticker sheets for the citations and one for the big exhibits. That way, when you finish marking all of your big exhibits, you can divide the sheet in half and save the remaining stickers for later; you won’t be left with numerous stickers for big exhibits when you’re finished.
This is a very basic example, but it illustrates how custom stickers can provide the capability to base decisions more on strategy and less on volume.
Legal Exhibit Sticker Compliance
The court may have its own exhibit stickers to be used in all court proceedings such as a pre-trial conference, including, exhibits filed with a motion and/or response to motion or evidence/ exhibits to be introduced at trial. The court may provide stickers to the parties, or a clerk may provide them at no fee.
Exhibits that already bear the label or sticker of an original source need not be re-stickered as evidence of a photograph, if it has the photographer’s label on it. However, each party has a right to stipulate or agree to allow the other party to enter into evidence the opposing party’s proposed exhibits without having to re-sticker or label them with their own sticker or label. In other words, this can be a time-consuming and expensive step to take for each exhibit, if a party does not have its own label or sticker, or it is more convenient or practical that way.
As a statutory requirement, all exhibits must be identified, signed by the offeror of the exhibit, and the offeror must be sworn to the truth of the facts within the exhibit. Failure to follow these legal requirements can have dire consequences. For example, recently, a trial court reversed and remanded a case because the court erred in admitting documents designated as official government acts that were merely attached to an affidavit, when neither the documents nor the affidavit was signed. The Rule of Evidence which permits the addition of a document, report, or statement to an affidavit, is not intended to dispense with any requirement that the addendum itself be admissible. In Dewayne Brown v. Office of State Budget, Office of Financial Management, A20-1150 (N.C.Ct.App., 2021), the appellate court held that appending unsigned documents to an unsworn affidavit did not satisfy the requirements of North Carolina law for admissibility of an exhibit.
Additionally, if a party fails to properly authenticate a witness statement, that evidence may be withdrawn. If a party fails to properly authenticate signature, that exhibit may be excluded. Not signing an exhibit might prevent the jury from giving the material full consideration. For instance, if the entry is not signed and is merely attached to an affidavit, the exhibit is incomplete and not authenticated. A properly authenticated exhibit effectively replaces the live witness’s testimony. Having said that, if the exhibit is admissible, each party needs to lay a foundation for every exhibit the party seeks to enter into evidence.
Newer Technology for Legal Exhibit Stickers
In recent years, there have been a number of innovative developments in the technology and materials used for legal exhibit stickers. The advancement in software tools has allowed for complex and more detailed exhibit stickers, providing attorneys with greater flexibility in their organization methods as well as the specific information provided to the finder of fact.
The basic design of legal exhibit stickers and their placement continues to be largely unchanged, as these remain a critical part of the identification process for exhibits. However, the development of high quality laser printers, alternative printing solutions such as color laser printers (which allow artwork or other color materials to be incorporated into the sticker designs directly) and the development of multi-color printers has expanded the spectrum of possible designs for legal exhibit stickers . Such solutions have also made it possible to print these items in-house rather than utilizing a commercial printer.
Cost limitations in many law firms has also inspired the creation of a variety of software solutions which can aid in the preparation of legal exhibits stickers and even facilitate process of printing them out yourself (including cutting to size if you opt for printing on full sheet labels). Some of these solutions, such as ExhibitView, even have full document management systems that can allow for printing out entire binders on demand. Such software can also offer the benefit of be able to attach basic exhibit information inputted by the users (such as identifying information, a witness, treatment issues, etc.) as metadata to the physical document, making retrieval of the electronic copy easier when document review is necessary. This metadata can be integrated with the documentary recall during depositions, trials and other hearings.