Summons Text

The Summons Writing Lab Text
The following text has been extracted from the Request for Admissions Writing Lab.

READ THIS FIRST!

Welcome to the Legal Writing Labs! These labs take you step-by-step through the creation of various legal documents. The document you are creating should be based upon the client you were assigned (or chose). Since you would normally be able to contact your client and ask questions about the case, you may expand or change the facts if it helps. Note that you do not have to provide answers to any of the documents you are creating.

After opening a Template using the above tabs, you should do the following:

1. In the Select a Document drop down box on the right, choose the document you are wanting to work on.

2. The drop down Instructions box will provide you with links to help for every element of the document. Those instructions are presented in the order in which the relevant material appears within the document itself. Simply refer to the instructions as you work on your assignment. When you have completed all the steps, you should have a virtually completed document!

3. It is important to remember that the Writing Lab Template will allow you to modify the document, but does not save those changes. If your browser leaves the web page you are working on, your modifications to the document will be lost. It is therefore recommended that you copy and paste your work into Microsoft Word every 5 or 10 minutes to back up your work.

4. Copy and Paste the modified Template to create a new Microsoft Word document.

THE CAPTION

(Note that a caption is often referred to as the "style" of the document. Thus, if an attorney tells you to change the "style," he or she is saying to change the caption.)

THE CAPTION in your template will contain at least three areas that you will need to modify.

THE COURT TITLE
Change the title of the court to a trial court in your jurisdiction, or if you want, you may leave it in the jurisdiction provided in the Template.

THE PARTIES
You will chang the names of the Plaintiff and the Defendant. The names should be in all capital letters. A note about ROES AND DOES: These are ficticious names that attorneys sometimes use to protect their right to sue someone whose identity is not currently known. You are not required to use them, but if you want to try, all you have to do is provide the following for the Defendant:

JOHN SMITH, Defendant,
and
ROE DEFENDANTS 1 - 10 and DOE CORPORATIONS 1 - 10, Defendants.

DESIGNATION OF TITLE
The title of the document can be as simple as SUMMONS.

This should not be too hard. Go ahead and get started! Modify the caption in the Template.

CONTENTS
Very often, your attorney may have a prefabricated summons that the court prints out. However, it is just as permissible to use a form-based summons such as the one provided here. After all the purpose of the summons is to provide the defendant in a legal matter with "notice" as to the pending litigation, as required by the defendant's due process rights.

You will change very little of the substance of the summons. In fact, there is nothing specific to your client's legal matter except for the names of the parties in the caption and the attorney's subscription at the end. So just make those changes. You will also want to place the name of the Clerk of Court at the end of the summons. (If you do not know the clerk's name either make a name up or call a local trial court for the name of the Clerk of Court.)

Preparing this document should take you all of about 30 minutes!

SUBSCRIPTION

The subscription is basically the "SIGNATURE BLOCK" at the end of the document. The signature block usually includes the following:

SIGNATURE LINE
A line on which the attorney will place his or her signature.
ATTORNEY NAME
Type the attorney's name.
TITLE OF LAW FIRM
The firm's name should either follow the attorney's name, or be provided above the signature line.
BAR NUMBER
Every lawyer appearing in front of a court must be a member of a bar association. That association will assign the attorney a bar number. Just ask the attorney for the bar number, or check an existing document.
ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER
The firm's address and phone number (including area code) should be provided in the signature block.

Following is an example of a subscription:

DOE, STEVENS, AND COMISKI

___________________________
DAVID R. DOE
#94-0397
584 Smith Rd.
Durham, NC 20910
(919)549-2930

CERTIFICATE OF MAILING
The Certificate of Mailing is very important. It assures the court that the other side has been sent the document, and when the document has been sent. Just modify the COM in the template, making sure the wording is accurate for the document being sent.