Sequence Of Claims

The usual practice is to list the broadest claims first, followed by successively narrower claims. This may seem to go without saying because the first claim is always independent, and the dependent claims are always listed after the parent independent claim. The real issue arises when an application contains multiple independent claims. Should a patent attorney put the broader independent claims near the front of the application or near the back? Actually, it probably doesn't matter. Some examiners say that they don't care about the ordering of the claims, and but some feel that a broad claim in the middle or end of the list may be an attempt to sneak one by. My preference is to list the broader independent claims ahead of the narrower ones.