In 1982, Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger banned all legal-sized documents from federal courts. It is estimated that this policy has saved millions of dollars in storage space. The most well-known feature of a legal block? The color yellow. But why are they yellow? Good question. In order to answer them, however, a brief explanation of their history is first necessary. Artists like Jeff Tweedy, Jerry Seinfeld and Jonathan Dee swear by the use of a legal block. This means that some of the most valuable works of art of recent times have been written and executed through the use of the Legal Pad. The Seinfeld show, the Sky Blue Sky album, even entire novels were written on legal blocks. I have been self-employed for almost 25 years and have filled hundreds of notebooks, notepads and sketchbooks during that time. I didn`t know how many I had until I started leaving my office in anticipation of a move from Minnesota to Texas. It took me hours to go through them all to see if there were any gems I needed to save. Finally, I filled two large garbage bags with my ideas, thoughts, research and drawings.
It was difficult to part with it. Thankfully, most of my notes and sketches are now created, stored, and organized on my Macbook, iPhone, and iPad, or in the cloud. It is certainly more convenient to write these things in different media, so there must be an advantage to using them. Suzanne Snider, a journalist, researched the history of the Legal Pad and explains why it is so valuable to us as a culture. One hypothesis is that color was chosen for those working in the legal profession because it stimulated their creativity and mental abilities. It also provided a background that contrasted very well with the black ink and gave a professional feel. OMG. I love it. You are like the original bullet journaler. Laughing out loud.
;0 I`ve always kept diaries! But I like the idea of legal notebooks. It is switchable. Is that a word? Thank you for validating the article. 😉 The history of legal notebooks, or what we see right now, has a notepad, dating back to the late 1800s. Bedazzling`s popularity spans 30 years, which is impressive enough that everything – including decorating notebook covers – has contributed to this success deserves some recognition. Thus, although they do not have the moxie of legal blockages, the notebooks do not fall without a fight. If you`re looking for a reusable, cloud-connected note-taking tool that saves paper and doesn`t require you to spend money on new laptops or blocks, go for the Rocketbook Orbit. Sam Walton turned a five cent into the Walmart empire with little more than business acumen and a legal block.
Its reliance on yellow legal notebooks is well documented. On his desk at the Walmart museum is a stack of ubiquitous napkins still covered in Walton`s detailed notes. If Walton uses these cheap yellow pads to become a billionaire, you might find them useful for running a law firm. No competition: We`d be remiss if we didn`t mention that Rocketbook laptops and our legal pad, the Rocketbook Orbit, would do well in Catetgory 1 and Catetgory 2. Our reusable pages make notes intimidating because you can delete and start over at any time. What`s more, the Rocketbook app allows you to easily scan and save notes online, so you never run the risk of accidentally losing or offending a page full of valuable ideas. While we may not know the real answer as to why they are yellow, we do know the origin of the margin of a legal block. Around 1900, a local judge asked Holley to add a vertical line on the left side of the paper to create a margin where he could take notes. These edges — also known as descending lines — are always red and 1.25 inches (3.1 centimeters) from the left edge of the page. The legal block was invented by a 24-year-old paper mill worker, Thomas Holley, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, around 1888. Holley got the idea of his frustration because at the end of the day, he had to pick up the tons of leftover low-quality paper that littered the mill. He cut the scraps to the same size and sewed them together to form a uniform pile of papers or blocks.
Since the paper was essentially trash for the factory, they were able to sell the tampons at a low price. Holley`s idea was so successful that he quit his job at the plant and began selling sanitary pads full-time through the American Pad and Paper Company, or AMPAD, which he founded. AMPAD collected scrap metal from local factories and manufactured and sold the wafers. In 1902, a prominent businessman modified the blocks of paper by gluing all the sheets of paper cut in half onto a sheet of cardboard. Later in 1900, a judge in Holyoke, looking for places to write his notes, asked his assistant to find or create a notepad with a border on the left side of 1.25. This request encouraged Holly to add vertical margin on the left side of the paper to write margin notes and indexed revisions. This is what we know today as Legal Pad. Holley`s business still exists and they still make notepads in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. Ultimately, what makes a Legal Pad a Legal Pad is the red vertical line on the left that creates a 1.25-inch edge.
It can be of any color, length or size and the lines can be of any width. It is this specific margin that makes it a legal buffer. While you can buy them in the length of a legal brief – 8.5″ x 14″ – the length of the paper has nothing to do with why we call it a legal block. So read on and enjoy the fight (NOTE: No notepads or legal notebooks were damaged while creating this blog post). Before we look at what legal blockages and notebooks look like, we need to list their strict physical differences. Thank you Abby – I`m getting your great newsletter and saw this article there first – it sounds so easy, but I think you think better (deeper) when you`re doing the physical movement of writing or crossing or transferring some entries to the next day`s page. I tried using a journal, then a university-lined spiral notebook, but for some reason I wasn`t happy with them – I switched to the Legal Pad after your newsletter arrived. I think part of that is the satisfaction of turning pages every day to see a new page. Similar to these montages of turning the pages of the calendar in classic movies. He`s not alone either.
Many people swear that the only thing they use to write are legal blocks. There is something about them that leads to confidence and creativity, but how did they come about and why are they called legal blocks? Amy, I thought I was the only one! I love my yellow legal notebooks, I hardly remember a life without them. I take notes almost the same way you do! Phone calls, math problems, page lists, scanning, starting a new page. I love him. I also love my iPad, but sometimes all you need is a pencil and paper. I look forward to meeting you at Craft Con in February! Marsha yellow legal notebooks are my go-to business tool. They are cheap and easy to find – I buy them in a 3 pack at the office supply store. And they are immediate. Without software to learn and without a program to load, nothing could be easier. However, despite the proliferation of digital banknotes, it seems unlikely that yellow paper will disappear completely. Click here for our selection of premium legal blocks.
Okay, here are some of the movies that include legal notebooks: Spotlight (2015), 12 Angry Men (1957), A Few Good Men (1992), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Primal Fear (1996), and My Cousin Vinny (1992), to name a few.