Something that almost every paralegal will have to do at one time or another is Bates stamping. When I first heard that term, I thought it must be some very complicated way of numbering. In actuality, it is a fairly simple concept. It is numbering documents in a way that allows you to quickly find specific pages. For instance, if you have a document that has eleven exhibits, you would number the pages that make up those exhibits sequentially, not renumbering for each exhibit. Bates numbering usually is 6 digits long, and it used to be done using an automatic numbering machine (I've got two Cosco stamps in my drawer right now!). With the stamp, it was a long, slow, tedious process. Thankfully, we now live in a world where technology can be harnessed to make our jobs so much easier!

To begin, scan your documents or combine your documents to create one PDF document.

Open your document and click on “Advanced” on the menu bar.

Go down to “Document Processing” and then you will see a list of options.

Choose “Bates Numbering” and then “Add”. That will take you to the Bates Numbering dialogue box.

Click on the button to “Include all open PDF documents” and then select your file.

Click on Next, which takes you to the Add Header and Footer dialogue box.

Click into the Text box where you want the Bates Number to appear (we usually use the Right Footer Text box).

Then click Insert Bates Number. There you can specify the # of digits, the start number, and any prefix or suffix you want (we usually use 6 digits, with whatever start # we need - in case this is a second batch of documents that should start with the next # in the sequence - then we use a prefix of UM).

Click on OK to return to the Add Header and Footer dialogue box. Check the appearance in the preview screen to make sure it appears the way you want. You may have to change the font (towards the top of the dialogue box).

Then click OK and you’re done!