If the firm you are working for will not use styles they are seriously out of step with the legal sector. I worked as a consultant to many leading law firms I can assure you that it is standard practice in the sector to use styles.

Headers (and Footers)

Microsoft Word documents are built up from parts that are somewhat like Russian nesting dolls, with one part inside another inside another...

Headers and Footers are in a separate layer (or story to use Word jargon) from the main document. In addition, they are part of the part known as a Section.

Every Word document has at least one section. A single page can contain multiple sections. Word will sometimes create section breaks without asking or notifying you. (Orientation, margins, page size.) The section formatting is contained in the section break at the end of the section. The formatting for the last section in a document is in the last paragraph mark of the document.

Do not change the left and right margins within a page to mark off text. Instead, use paragraph indents. Doing this adds surplus section breaks.

Each section of a Word document contains three headers and three footers.

• The principal one called Header (or Footer) and in some circumstances called the Odd-Page Header (or Footer). I am going to skip (or Footer) from now on because most of what I am saying applies to both.
• The First-Page Header.
• The Even Page Header.

The last two are only shown if you have chosen options to use them. If you use Different Even and Odd, the main one becomes named the Odd-Page Header. They also only appear if there are enough pages in the section to show them.

Watermarks and page numbers are in Headers.

Here are some resources that should assist you:

• Sections / Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word 97-2003
• Working with sections by Dave Rado, MVP (also for menu versions)
• What gets carried over when you start a new section?
• Page Numbers in Word 97-2003
• Margins and Indents
• Watermarks in Word 2003
• Recap of Header/Footer Settings - menu
• How can I get a different header/footer on the second page? and the companion Letterhead Textboxes and Styles Tutorial (these show much of what can be done with headers as well as demonstrating the StyleRef field's use)
• Using Headers and Footers by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP
• Headers Unbound - put header elements anywhere on a page by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP
• Setting Up Letter Templates - Menus Version by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP
• I am a senior and love computers. I am interested in training.
• Special Edition Using Office 2003 by Woody Leonhard and Ed Bott (This is a book. See if you can find a used copy on eBay.)
  

If the firm you are working with is not using styles I strongly urge you to get the chapter from the Legal Users Guide to Microsoft Word and show it to them.
document in zip format

It may feel like you are rocking the boat, but they will thank you.

You tell us that your firm will not permit use of styles in documents.

Telling you to use Word for legal documents without using styles is the equivalent of hiring a chauffeur for your Rolls Royce and telling him to not have any oil changes and only use 25 gallons of gasoline a month. Put a governor on the engine limiting the speed to 45 miles per hour. Then complain that the car does not do what you want; it won't get you where you want to go.

You started out asking how to change headers in lengthy legal documents and the problems you were having adding Section breaks.
Headers (and footers) in a lengthy document really need the StyleRef Field for most of the changes you want, with no need for Section breaks.

In addition to the StyleRef field, styles are very much involved in the following:

• Creating an Automatic Table of Contents
  Generating a Table of Contents
  How to create a table of contents in Microsoft Word by Shauna Kelly
• Creating a Table of Figures or Exhibits
  Insert a Table of Figures
• Creating a Table of Authorities
  Generate a Table of Authorities
• Using Cross-References
  Insert Cross-References
• Maintaining Consistent formatting of like parts of a document
  3. Using Styles to Format Text
• Organizing and Reorganizing a Document
  Moving/Reorganizing Pages in Microsoft Word
  Why Use Word's Built-In Heading Styles? by Shauna Kelly
  Outlining in Microsoft Word
• Using Automatic Paragraph numbering, MultiLevel numbering and the ListNum field.
  How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Ribbon Versions of Word by Shauna Kelly
  Numbering in Microsoft Word
  ListNum field

Someone in your firm had a bad experience with styles I would guess. Probably after being forced to move to Word from Word Perfect (where styles are not nearly as important). They need to move past that.

From my page on the Importance of Styles in Word: I taught word processing use for the Legal Economics Section of the American Bar Association and for the National Association of District Attorneys. I published in the Word Perfect for Lawyers newsletter. I am a volunteer moderator here and on the Microsoft Answers site. I am far from all-knowing, but I do know that trying to effectively and efficiently use Word without using styles is self-defeating and might even be classed as wicked if you are preparing documents and templates for others to use.

Yes, this will require learning new skills. It is far from insurmountable. Legislators and courts keep changing the law, but we lawyers manage to keep up. You have a quite powerful computer program in Word, yes, in Word 2003. You, and others in your firm need to learn to use it.

Start with:

• Original Legal Users Guide to Microsoft Word 2002
• Basic concepts of Microsoft Word: An introduction by Shauna Kelly, MVP
• Special Edition Using Office 2003 by Woody Leonhard and Ed Bott (This is a book. See if you can find a used copy on eBay.)

Those can be a resource for every user of Word in your firm.

Everything said above about Word 2003 is still applicable to all versions of Word since. Later references would help with the change to the user interface starting with Word 2007, but all of the principles apply.


Here is a link to my response in this thread in respect to Headers: Headers and Footers in Word 2003 (menu versions)

What you are looking for is guidance in how to format a document. So in order to help you, we need to understand precisely what you're trying to accomplish. The content of your sample is immaterial--it can be nonsense words.

You also might have a discussion with the firm regarding the use of styles. They are too useful to ignore, and they are perfectly suited to the use case you have described.

Let's say, for example, that you need your header to show the name of the witness whose testimony is on that page. If you do that with styles, it is very simple:

1. Create a style for witness names.
2. Apply this style at the first instance of a Witness' name--like a section heading.
2. In a standard header, use the StyleRef option Charles mentioned earlier.

If you do that, Word will automatically update each header with the correct name, even if the document is edited at a later date. Multiple sections are NOT needed.

If you are adamant about headers without using the StyleRef field, then you basically have to manually update each header, unlinking it from the previous one. And if the document is edited, you may have to go through and redo everything.