California Pleading Paper for Chat AI Assistants

Scope: formatting only

This skill places text the user has already written into a blank California pleading paper template.

Do not write, draft, complete, rewrite, summarize, or suggest any legal content. That includes captions, parties, claims, causes of action, defenses, facts, prayers, citations, and signatures.
Use the user's words exactly as given. Do not correct, reword, or add to them. If a required caption field is missing, ask the user to supply it, or leave it blank. Never invent it.
If the user asks for legal advice, drafting, a review of their document, deadlines, or which form or court to use, say that this skill only formats documents and that they should talk with a lawyer licensed in California. Then stop using this skill for that request.
This skill covers paper format only. It does not check content, deadlines, service, filing fees, Judicial Council form requirements, or e-filing requirements (see rule 2.256(b)). It does not cover appellate briefs. The user should check the filing court's instructions before filing.
This skill is general information and a formatting aid. It is not legal advice, and using it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It was published by SentryHall, a legal-information site run by a law student who is not a lawyer.

Copy the code below exactly, with no changes, into a file named chat_pleading.py, and run it with Python 3. Check its sha256 against the value listed under the code. For a blank template, run python3 chat_pleading.py blank.docx and check that file's sha256 too. If a value does not match, tell the user the file may differ, and copy the code again. If it still does not match, stop.

# California pleading paper (.docx) for chat AI assistants. Python 3, standard library only, no network.
# Blank template: python3 chat_pleading.py out.docx   Filled: python3 chat_pleading.py out.docx caption.json body.txt
# It puts the user's caption fields (JSON) and body text (paragraphs split by blank lines) where the labels are.
import sys,json,zipfile
from xml.sax.saxutils import escape
a=sys.argv;C=a[2:]!=[];D=json.load(open(a[2]))if C else{}
W='http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/';N=f'xmlns:w="{W}wordprocessingml/2006/main" xmlns:r="{W}officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"'
def s(l,r='auto',b=''):return f'<w:spacing{b} w:line="{l}" w:lineRule="{r}"/>'
A,X=s(240),s(480,'exact')
def p(q='',x='',f=''):return f'<w:p><w:pPr>{q}</w:pPr><w:r><w:rPr>{f}</w:rPr><w:t xml:space="preserve">{x}</w:t></w:r></w:p>'
def m(q,k,l,f=''):return''.join(p(q,escape(x),f)for x in D.get(k,'').split('\n'))if C else p(q,f'[{l}]',f)
def c(w,b,x):return f'<w:tc><w:tcPr><w:tcW w:w="{w}"/><w:tcBorders>{b}</w:tcBorders></w:tcPr>{x}</w:tc>'
def g(*e):return''.join(f'<w:{k} w:val="single" w:sz="4"/>'for k in e)
F,K,J='<w:pStyle w:val="FirmInformation"/>','<w:pStyle w:val="Court"/>','<w:jc w:val="both"/>'
L=D.get('attorney_block','').split('\n')if C else['[Attorney or party name, address, phone, fax, email,','State Bar number if any]']
L=[escape(x)for x in L]
if len(L)>12:sys.exit('attorney_block: 12 lines at most')
L+=['']*12
o=''.join(p(F+A*(i!=9),L[i])for i in range(12))+p(K+'<w:jc w:val="left"/>')+m(K,'court_title','Name of court','<w:b/>')+p(K)*2
q=m(A+J,'case_title','Case title')+p(A+J)*2+p('<w:spacing w:before="240"/><w:ind w:left="720"/>'+J)*2+p(A+J)*3+p(K)
R=[('case_number','Case number'),('document_title','Nature of the paper; on a complaint or petition, character of the action'),('judge_dept','Judge and department, if assigned'),('referee','Referee, if one was appointed'),('amount_demanded','Amount demanded statement, if rule 2.111(9) applies'),('limited_civil','Limited Civil Case statement, if rule 2.111(10) applies'),('reclassification','Reclassification statement, if rule 2.111(11) applies'),('hearing','Hearing date, time, and department, if any'),('trial_date','Trial date, if set'),('date_filed','Date action filed, if needed')]
r=''.join(m(A+'<w:ind w:left="256"/>',*R[i],'<w:b/>'*(i==1))for i in range(10))+p(K+'<w:spacing w:after="0"/>')
o+=f'<w:tbl><w:tblPr><w:tblW w:w="10075"/></w:tblPr><w:tblGrid><w:gridCol w:w="5037"/><w:gridCol w:w="5038"/></w:tblGrid><w:tr>{c(5037,g("bottom","right"),q)}{c(5038,g("left"),r)}</w:tr></w:tbl>'
B=[x.strip().replace('\n',' ')for x in(open(a[3]).read()if a[3:]else'').split('\n\n')if x.strip()]or['']
o+=p(s(480,'exact',' w:before="0"'))+''.join(p(X+'<w:ind w:firstLine="720"/>',escape(x))for x in B)+p(A)
o+=f'<w:tbl><w:tblPr/><w:tblGrid><w:gridCol w:w="4990"/><w:gridCol w:w="4990"/></w:tblGrid><w:tr>{c(4990,"",m(X,"signature_date","Date"))}{c(4990,"",p(A)*3+p(A,"_"*39,"<w:b/>")+m(A,"signer_name","Signer name")+p(A)+m(A,"signer_role","Signer&apos;s role","<w:i/>"))}</w:tr></w:tbl>'
o+=p(A)+p('<w:tabs><w:tab w:val="left" w:pos="5040"/></w:tabs>'+A)
o=f'<w:document {N}><w:body>{o}<w:sectPr><w:headerReference w:type="default" r:id="h"/><w:footerReference w:type="default" r:id="f"/><w:pgSz w:w="12240" w:h="15840"/><w:pgMar w:top="1080" w:right="720" w:bottom="1080" w:left="1440" w:header="720" w:footer="360" w:gutter="0"/></w:sectPr></w:body></w:document>'
P='position:absolute;mso-position-horizontal-relative:margin;mso-position-vertical-relative:'
def v(x,y):return f'<w:r><w:pict><v:line style="{P}{y}" from="{x},0" to="{x},11in" strokeweight=".75pt"/></w:pict></w:r>'
G=X+'<w:jc w:val="right"/>';n=''.join(p(G,str(i))for i in range(1,29))+p(G)
h=f'<w:hdr {N}><w:p><w:pPr><w:tabs><w:tab w:val="center" w:pos="4800"/><w:tab w:val="right" w:pos="9600"/></w:tabs>{X}</w:pPr>{v("505.7pt","margin;mso-position-vertical:center")}<w:r><w:pict><v:shapetype id="t" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="202" path="m,l,21600r21600,l21600,xe"/><v:shape type="#t" stroked="f" style="{P}margin;margin-left:-47.15pt;width:36pt;height:669.6pt"><v:textbox inset="0,0,0,0"><w:txbxContent>{n}</w:txbxContent></v:textbox></v:shape></w:pict></w:r>{v("-5.9pt","page")}{v("-3.6pt","page")}</w:p></w:hdr>'
Z='<w:sz w:val="20"/>';Q=A+'<w:ind w:right="90"/><w:jc w:val="center"/><w:rPr>'+Z+'</w:rPr>';E='<w:pBdr><w:top w:val="single" w:sz="4" w:space="1"/></w:pBdr>'
u=''.join(f'<w:r><w:rPr>{Z}</w:rPr>{x}</w:r>'for x in('<w:fldChar w:fldCharType="begin"/>','<w:instrText xml:space="preserve"> PAGE </w:instrText>','<w:fldChar w:fldCharType="separate"/>','<w:t>1</w:t>','<w:fldChar w:fldCharType="end"/>'))
f=f'<w:ftr {N}><w:p><w:pPr>{Q}</w:pPr>{u}</w:p>{m(E+Q,"document_title","Title of the paper",Z)}</w:ftr>'
y=f'<w:styles {N}><w:docDefaults><w:rPrDefault><w:rPr><w:rFonts w:ascii="Times New Roman" w:hAnsi="Times New Roman"/><w:lang w:val="en-US"/></w:rPr></w:rPrDefault><w:pPrDefault/></w:docDefaults><w:style w:type="paragraph" w:default="1" w:styleId="Normal"><w:name w:val="Normal"/><w:pPr>{s(240,"exact")}</w:pPr><w:rPr><w:sz w:val="24"/></w:rPr></w:style><w:style w:type="paragraph" w:styleId="FirmInformation"><w:name w:val="Firm"/><w:basedOn w:val="Normal"/><w:pPr><w:tabs><w:tab w:val="left" w:pos="187"/></w:tabs></w:pPr></w:style><w:style w:type="paragraph" w:styleId="Court"><w:name w:val="Court"/><w:basedOn w:val="Normal"/><w:pPr><w:keepNext/><w:spacing w:after="240"/><w:jc w:val="center"/></w:pPr><w:rPr><w:caps/></w:rPr></w:style></w:styles>'
T='application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.';O=W+'officeDocument/2006/relationships/'
z={'[Content_Types].xml':f'<Types xmlns="{W}package/2006/content-types"><Default Extension="rels" ContentType="application/vnd.openxmlformats-package.relationships+xml"/><Default Extension="xml" ContentType="application/xml"/>'+''.join(f'<Override PartName="/word/{k}.xml" ContentType="{T}{m}+xml"/>'for k,m in(('document','document.main'),('styles','styles'),('settings','settings'),('h','header'),('f','footer')))+'</Types>','_rels/.rels':f'<Relationships xmlns="{W}package/2006/relationships"><Relationship Id="d" Type="{O}officeDocument" Target="word/document.xml"/></Relationships>','word/_rels/document.xml.rels':f'<Relationships xmlns="{W}package/2006/relationships">'+''.join(f'<Relationship Id="{m}" Type="{O}{k}" Target="{m}.xml"/>'for k,m in(('header','h'),('footer','f'),('styles','styles'),('settings','settings')))+'</Relationships>','word/document.xml':o,'word/h.xml':h,'word/f.xml':f,'word/styles.xml':y,'word/settings.xml':f'<w:settings {N}><w:compat><w:compatSetting w:name="compatibilityMode" w:uri="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word" w:val="15"/></w:compat></w:settings>'}
with zipfile.ZipFile(a[1],'w')as Y:
 for k in z:
  i=zipfile.ZipInfo(k,(2026,1,1,0,0,0));i.create_system=3;Y.writestr(i,'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>'+z[k])

chat_pleading.py sha256: a938960835a1db5179832443b30abc028432d4b2262a295f6bef6515a319ca99

blank.docx (python3 chat_pleading.py blank.docx) sha256: 04da8c872d5aacbf83a1e04a54fb0ab64ea133e597debd94f9d42d9d5420509d

To fill the template, write the user's first-page details to caption.json and the user's text to body.txt, exactly as the user gave them. Then run python3 chat_pleading.py out.docx caption.json body.txt and give the user out.docx. caption.json keys: attorney_block (up to 12 lines), court_title, case_title, case_number, document_title, judge_dept, referee, amount_demanded, limited_civil, reclassification, hearing, trial_date, date_filed, signature_date, signer_name, signer_role. Use only these keys; any other key is ignored. In a value, \n starts a new line. In body.txt, put a blank line between paragraphs. Single line breaks are joined with a space. The body comes out as plain paragraphs, with no bold, italics, or headings; marks such as ** and # print as typed. A key left out shows as a blank line. If a detail is missing, ask the user for it or leave the key out. Never invent it.

SentryHall publishes general legal information for educational purposes. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The author is a law student, not a lawyer. Laws change and apply differently to different facts. For advice about your situation, talk with a lawyer licensed in California. You can look up a lawyer's license status at calbar.ca.gov.

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