How to Preserve Evidence When You Are Representing Yourself

The Steps

1. 1
   Screenshot with context visible

   Capture the full window including the URL bar and the system clock. A cropped image of a docket row proves nothing about when or where it came from.

2. 2
   Hash every document you receive

   Run sha256sum the day it arrives and record the value in a log. If a later copy differs, you can prove it.

3. 3
   Use delivery methods that generate receipts

   Certified mail with return receipt, fax with a transmission report, or email with delivery confirmation. Keep the receipt with the document it proves.

4. 4
   Write contemporaneous notes

   After every call: date, time, who you spoke with, their title, and what they said in quotes where possible. A note written the same day carries weight a memory does not.

5. 5
   Keep an index

   A simple spreadsheet — date, document, source, how obtained, hash, where filed. When a case runs long, the index becomes more valuable than any single document.

6. 6
   Preserve the systems, not just the printouts

   Send preservation letters naming the systems that hold the originals: mailboxes, case management logs, dispatch records, conferencing telemetry.

7. 7
   Publish or deposit copies where they cannot be lost

   Redundancy defeats loss. Keep copies somewhere outside your own devices.