Exhibit Stickers & Labeling Admitted Exhibits at Trial
One often overlooked item when preparing for Tampa or Orlando trial is exhibit labeling and stickers for your evidence. Make sure you review your local court requirements and prepare your documents as required. There are several options for creating exhibit labels and stickers, from handwritten adhesive labels to custom electronic exhibit stickers.
Another consideration when creating an exhibit label is your functional objective. Are you creating an exhibit label for: pre-marking your exhibits for reference in court (Example: Plaintiff’s Exhibit 1 = PX001) or are you labeling for entering the document into evidence in court? If the labeling is for admitting the exhibit into evidence during the trial, you will likely need one of the court’s stickers that has additional fields like Date Admitted or Admitted Exhibit Number
As an example, here is a link to the Tampa Courthouse clerk’s requirements:
Hillsborough County Courthouse (Tampa)
Link to PDF: https://www.fljud13.org/portals/0/forms/pdfs/genciv/exhibitlist.pdf
Exhibit List Instructions In order to expedite your trial, and pursuant to the pre-trial conference order. All exhibits must be marked with ADHESIVE LABELS prior to trial. Please do not staple or paperclip the labels to the exhibits. All adhesive labels must be affixed on the back of the last page of the exhibit in the bottom left-hand corner. In addition, an Exhibit List of all exhibits must be completed. The Clerk’s office is providing all civil attorneys with a format to use when labeling and describing exhibits.
Middle District of Florida Tampa & Orlando Federal Court
If you are in the Middle District of Florida, you will need to meet their exhibit labeling requirements Custom exhibit labels and stickers can be created to fit your evidence for trial. Make note of the required labeling for composite exhibits.
Counsel should consecutively number each exhibit tag and staple the exhibit tag to the upper right corner of each exhibit. Thereafter, counsel should prepare the Exhibit List and provide a description of each consecutively numbered exhibit, and sub-exhibit, sufficient to identify it throughout trial. Composite exhibits should be identified by using the main exhibit's sequential number and an alphabetical suffix to identify the composite portions of the exhibit: e.g., if the main exhibit is number 20 and there are two sub-parts to the exhibit, then the main exhibit should be numbered 20/A, the first sub-part numbered 20/B, and final sub-part numbered 20/C.
Custom Electronic Exhibit Stickers
Let’s discuss the benefits of electronic exhibit stickers when doing your trial preparation work. If you are preparing for a trial in Federal court in Tampa or Orlando, you may need to customize your exhibit labels to meet the clerk’s requirement but still have a more subtle look to your stickers compared to the rest of the legal document. Electronic exhibit stickers can becustomized to any particular color and font size. We recommend discussing the exhibit label with the clerk to make sure they will approve of the layout and text.
Electronic exhibit stickers can be custom created to include any of the following:
- Exhibit Sticker Color
- Case Style
- Case Number
- Plaintiff – Defense – Joint Exhibit
- Exhibit Number
