My background is in Electrical Engineering, and we were always taught to keep a work journal with specific features so it would be a legal document. I just figured they were trying to sell us the more expensive notebooks. That is, until some colleagues were called to court to testify in a patent challenge about the contents of their journals (regarding work from 10 years prior). I take my journal a lot more seriously now.
If the notebook is bound (can't add or remove pages), with pre-numbered pages (proves no pages added or removed), and entries are dated, it's pretty much automatically admissible in court. Loose or missing pages, hand written page numbers, missing dates -- won't necessarily make it inadmissible, but it leaves room for the work to be challenged by the opposing team.
"If the notebook is bound (can't add or remove pages), with pre-numbered pages (proves no pages added or removed)..."
Does anyone know of a good place to get an inexpensive (and leatherless) one of these? I would say any notebook would work, but I haven't ran on to many with numbered pages.
Sadly I've never run into a notebook with pre-numbered pages. I did buy the Think/Create/Record for less than 4 bucks. Numbering them isn't as time consuming as you'd think them to be. Someone mentioned composition books, they're leatherless and inexpensive.
Those are my favorite. I used those a ton in grad school and I highly recommend them. The only downside is that they are pretty large.
For my walk-around notebook that I carry to meetings for notes, etc, I use a quad ruled Moleskine. The pages aren't numbered, but they are permanently bound.
If the notebook is bound (can't add or remove pages), with pre-numbered pages (proves no pages added or removed), and entries are dated, it's pretty much automatically admissible in court. Loose or missing pages, hand written page numbers, missing dates -- won't necessarily make it inadmissible, but it leaves room for the work to be challenged by the opposing team.