SUPREME COURT OF NEW MEXICO
                            P.O. Box 848
                   Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-0848

                SENT VIA TELECOPIER ONLY 202-273-1555

                           March 13, 1997

TO:  ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE U.S. COURTS

RE:  ABA citation resolution

     I would like to comment on the issue of paragraph numbering. 
Most of the legal assistants for the 15 appellate judges and justices 
in New Mexico were, at first, reluctant to change their long-standing 
practices involved in preparing judicial opinions. However, 
our law librarian developed a simple WordPerfect macro that 
automatically inserts paragraph numbers in fine font and in curly 
brackets. The legal assistants simply call up this macro when 
keying in the opinion and paragraph numbers are automatically part of 
the document. It is easy to use and very efficient. I highly 
recommend the use of paragraph numbers in judicial opinions.

     Should you want a copy of the macro, please let me know and I 
will be happy to send you a diskette.

                                   Cordially,

                                   Kathleen Jo Gibson, Chief Clerk
                                   Supreme Court of the State of New 
                                     Mexico
                                   Santa Fe, New Mexico