Bates Numbering

Bates numbering: the pagination law and courts actually expect

When production documents enter discovery, every page needs a unique, sequential identifier that survives copying, excerpting, and cross-referencing — the Bates number, born from the 19th-century Bates automatic numbering machine and still the standard in litigation, medical records review, and audit binders. A proper Bates stamp has three parts: a prefix identifying the exhibit or production batch (EXH-, PL-001-), a zero-padded sequence where the digit count must accommodate the final page number (padding 6 for a 500-page production is conventional), and an optional suffix for sub-batches. Numbers are burned into the page content — they cannot be un-stamped, so this tool stamps a copy: keep your original. Placement convention puts the number in a corner clear of content; bottom-right is the common default, and the size (9 pt) reads cleanly without obscuring body text.