Do legal documents need to be justified?

Asked by: Remington Marvin  |  Last update: December 2, 2025
Score: 4.8/5 (71 votes)

The body of most legal documents should be left-aligned, but some courts may ask for the body of the test to be justified.

Should legal documents be justified?

For legal documents, some lawyers prefer justified text (also called “fully justified” text) and others prefer left-aligned text (also called “left-justified” text).

Should documents be fully justified?

Text justification makes long blocks of text less readable

The layout of your text affects its readability. If text is fully justified or center-justified, people may have issues with tracking (finding the beginning of each line of text). This is true for every user, not just individuals with disabilities.

Should papers be left-aligned or justified?

APA Style (7th ed.)

Align the text in the body of your paper flush against the left margin with a ragged right margin (e.g., the alignment of this page) (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 45). Do not use full justification, which spaces the text equally across the width of the page.

What format should legal documents be in?

While those documents are usually 8.5 x 11 inches, legal documents are 8.5 x 14 inches. If you'll be printing on that size paper, start your document formatting by choosing the right size for your document. Go to Layout and choose the Size option.

The Legal Documents You Need in 8 Minutes

41 related questions found

What are the requirements of a legal document?

Although a document must be signed by each party to be considered legally binding, the mere presence of signatures does not guarantee that an agreement is enforceable in court. To be considered a legally binding contract or document, three critical elements must also be present: Subject, Consideration, and Capacity.

What is the proper formatting for documents?

A standard, professional font (e.g., Times New Roman, Cambria, Calibri) Single or 0.15 line spacing, with no indentation on the first line of the paragraph. Additional line break between paragraphs. Left-justified body text.

Is justified or left-aligned more professional?

Justification is a matter of personal preference. It is not a signifier of professional typography. For instance, most major U.S. newspapers and magazines use a mix of justified and left-aligned text. Books, on the other hand, tend to be justified.

Do reports need to be justified?

BizWritingTip response: There is no right or wrong answer here. Full justified or aligned text (text with even left and right margins) is considered a formal style and less friendly. But it looks neat. I find that most readers prefer justification in documents with a narrow line width, e.g., brochures and newspapers.

What does a left justified paper look like?

Left-Justify — leaves a ragged right edge to the paragraph (like a typewriter would). Center — centers the text on each line. Right-Justify — aligns the text even with the right-hand margin. Full-Justify — gives paragraphs an even left and right margin by proportionally spacing the text.

How do you fully justify a document?

Justifying extends each line of your text from the left margin to the right margin. Justifying text might make the last line of text in a paragraph considerably shorter than the other lines. Select the text you want to justify. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, select Justify .

What is proper justification?

Very generally, justification is the right standing of an action, person, or attitude with respect to some standard of evaluation. For example, a person's actions might be justified under the law, or a person might be justified before God.

When to use justified alignment?

As a general rule, Justification is great when you have a lot of text to condense into close columns; Justification helps create imaginary boundaries between the columns. However, if you have more space between columns, using left-aligned text can help with the readability.

What makes a legal document valid?

Generally, to be legally valid, most contracts must contain two elements: All parties must agree about an offer made by one party and accepted by the other. Something of value must be exchanged for something else of value.

What is the legal term for justified?

Justification is a defense in a criminal case, by which a defendant who committed the acts asserts that because what they did meets certain legal standards, they are not criminally culpable for the acts which would otherwise be criminal.

Should legal documents be stapled?

Once a document has been state-certified, it becomes “official” and it is crucial that it be kept intact. If you remove the staples to make copying the certified documents easier it is considered tampering. That holds true even if you intend to staple them right back together without altering or adding any pages.

Should legal writing be justified?

Fully justified text tends to feel more formal and serious, and that's one reason professionally printed documents are often fully justified. For example, most books use fully justified text. Formality and seriousness are right for many legal documents, and the clean vertical margins appeal to some legal writers.

Why is it important to be justified?

Knowing you are justified will help you see yourself the way God sees you: blameless and perfect. Obviously, no one is perfect in fact, but God does not look at His people who trust Him and see all their sin. Instead, He sees them in the same way He sees Jesus because Jesus has covered their sin with His righteousness.

Do I need to justify my actions?

I'm not suggesting justification is unwarranted in some instances because it may be. I'm saying that if we are constantly making excuses to justify our actions to appease others, it requires searching within ourselves to find the root cause of it. Justifying has an emotional cost, which can erode our self-esteem.

Should a report be justified?

The British Dyslexia Association have a style guide, and would you guess it – justified text is named and shamed as bad practice. They state that you should: Left align text, without justification. This makes it easier to find the start and finish of each line and ensures even spacing between words.

What alignment is most commonly used for titles?

Center alignment is a great option to be used with titles, as well as graphics that carry importance in a graphical design piece.

Should you justify a personal statement?

Do not justify your text.

What is the proper formatting for legal documents?

You'll want to start with a standard page size (8.5 x 11 inches) with 1-inch margins. Keep the font simple, such as Times New Roman, and avoid the use of color. Remember to break up text with headers and paragraphs for readability.

How to label legal documents?

Every file name should include these core components:
  1. Client/Matter Name: Clearly identify who the document pertains to. ...
  2. Document Type: Specify the nature of the document (Contract, Will, Motion, etc.).
  3. Date or Version Number: Include either the creation date in YYYY-MM-DD format or a version number (v1, v2, etc.).

How do I type up a legal document?

The body of most legal documents should be double-spaced. And set the spacing “before” and “after” to “0 pt.” Click “OK” when done. This will ensure that you don't have extra space between your paragraphs.