Declarations and Affidavits: Stamping Exhibits That Get Cited at Summary Judgment
Exhibits attached to declarations have their own conventions — letters, not numbers; alignment with the declaration's text; and the formatting rules that keep summary judgment briefs from getting bounced.
A declaration or affidavit is a written sworn statement, typically attached to a motion. Almost every declaration in federal practice attaches exhibits — the documents the declarant authenticates or relies on. The way those exhibits are marked affects how the declaration reads, how the brief cites them, and whether a court can find the right page when the time comes to rule.
What goes into a declaration packet
A standard declaration packet is three pieces:
- The declaration itself — typed, signed under penalty of perjury (28 U.S.C. § 1746 for federal declarations), with numbered paragraphs that reference each exhibit.
- The exhibits — usually attached as Exhibit A, Exhibit B, etc., each with a stamp on the first page identifying the exhibit letter and the declaration it's attached to.
- The motion or brief — cites the declaration paragraphs, which in turn cite the exhibits.
Letters, not numbers
The strong convention in federal civil practice: declaration exhibits are lettered, not numbered. "Exhibit A," "Exhibit B," through Z, then AA, BB, CC if needed. This visually distinguishes declaration exhibits from:
- Trial exhibits, which are typically numbered (Plaintiff Ex. 1, Ex. 2…).
- Deposition exhibits, which are typically numbered per deponent (Smith Ex. 1, Smith Ex. 2…).
- Production Bates numbers, which run sequentially across pages (SMITH000001 onwards).
The lettering carries through the brief: "See Smith Decl. ¶ 4 & Ex. A." A reader scanning the brief immediately knows A is a declaration exhibit, not a trial exhibit.
The stamp itself
A declaration-exhibit stamp typically contains:
- Caption — "EXHIBIT" in large type.
- Letter — A, B, C, with the letter visually dominant.
- Reference to the declaration — "Smith Decl." or the declarant's last name. This anchors the exhibit to its parent declaration; without it, an unmarked exhibit floating around the docket has no provenance.
- Case caption short-form — case number or short party names. Optional but useful in cases with multiple simultaneous motions.
Aligning the declaration text with the exhibits
The declaration cites each exhibit by letter:
"3. Attached as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of the employment agreement signed by John Smith on June 15, 2023, which I obtained from Smith's personnel file."
The brief then cites the declaration paragraph: "See Smith Decl. ¶ 3 & Ex. A." Three separate documents (brief, declaration, exhibit), one citation chain. A clean stamp on Ex. A completes the loop — the reader follows brief → declaration ¶ 3 → Ex. A and never wonders if they're looking at the right document.
Bates numbers on declaration exhibits
When a declaration exhibit was previously produced in discovery, it usually carries forward the production's Bates numbers in addition to the new exhibit-letter sticker. The Ex. A sticker goes on the first page; the Bates numbers stay on every page where they originally appeared. This lets the declaration reader cross- reference back to the production by Bates number, and lets future deposition or trial use cite both the exhibit letter and the underlying Bates range.
See Bates Numbering vs. Exhibit Stamping for the layered-marking pattern.
Common mistakes
- Numbering instead of lettering. Filing "Smith Decl. Ex. 1" in a court that uses "Smith Decl. Ex. A" doesn't bounce the brief, but it makes the filing look unfamiliar to the bench.
- No reference to the declaration on the exhibit itself. Ex. A says "EXHIBIT A" with no Smith Decl. reference. Now disambiguate when the case has 4 declarations each with their own Ex. A.
- Mismatch between declaration paragraphs and exhibit letters. Declaration ¶ 3 says "Attached as Exhibit A is the employment agreement" but Ex. A is actually the email chain. First paragraph of the response brief becomes a cleanup exercise.
- Combining declaration exhibits and trial exhibits in a single PDF. Federal practice keeps them separate. The declaration packet is its own filing; trial exhibits are filed separately at the pretrial deadline.
Summary judgment context
Most declarations in federal practice get filed in support of summary judgment motions. That means the exhibits attached to the declaration are the evidentiary record the court will consider under Rule 56. Two specific consequences for the stamping:
- Authentication. Each exhibit needs to be authenticated by a declaration that establishes the declarant's personal knowledge. The stamp tying the exhibit to a specific declaration matters because the court has to know which declarant authenticated which document.
- Citation density. Summary judgment briefs cite exhibits heavily — every fact in the statement of undisputed facts gets an exhibit citation. Misaligned exhibit letters cascade across the entire brief.
How Stampify handles declaration exhibits
Stampify's declaration-exhibit template applies a stamp with the declarant name (e.g., "Smith Decl. Ex. A"), preserves underlying Bates numbers from the source production, and generates an exhibit list aligned with the declaration paragraphs for filing. Reordering exhibits (which happens at every editing pass on the brief) regenerates every stamp — no manual relettering.