In legal matters, how should designations like plaintiff and defendant be treated?

In legal writing, designations such as "plaintiff" and "defendant" are typically treated as common nouns rather than proper nouns. This means that they should not be capitalized except in specific circumstances, such as when they begin a sentence or are part of a title or heading. By following this convention, legal documents maintain clarity and consistency, reflecting the everyday use of these terms.

Capitalizing these terms inappropriately could lead to confusion or misinterpretation, as readers may take them to signify a specific individual or party, rather than the general roles they represent. Hence, the standard practice is to write them in lowercase unless required otherwise by grammatical rules. This approach aligns with the guidelines of various legal style manuals which stress the importance of clarity in legal documents.