What Is the Best Font for a Legal Document

Always check with your jurisdiction for specific rules for accepted legal policies. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court requires that Century Family fonts be used in all pleadings. Recently, the Virginia Supreme Court released a new list of acceptable fonts. And the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh District notes that lawyers should avoid using Times New Roman — so their audience is less likely to quickly digitize legal briefs without retaining the content of the document. The Florida Supreme Court also recently released new police appeal rules for attorneys. The new rules include changing page and word restrictions on pleadings and appeals for documents created on computers. In particular, they require lawyers to use Arial or Bookman Old Style in 14 points to ensure readability on monitors. Of course, most dishes don`t go that far. Most dishes simply require a “readable” font of a certain size (usually at least 12 points).

Does that mean you should go ahead and come back to Times New Roman – because that`s what the judges “expect”? Lol Not at all. But don`t take my word for it. “When Times New Roman appears in a book, document or advertisement, it means apathy. He says, “I have submitted to the source of the slightest resistance.” Times New Roman is not a font choice, but the absence of a font, because the darkness of deep space is not a color. To look at Times New Roman is to look into the void. If a font used in the template does not exist on the server that generates a report, the font to be replaced can be specified. If no glyph to render exists in the specified font, you can also specify the replacement font. This can be clearly defined for European, bidirectional and Far Eastern fonts. If you want to set longer texts in sans-serif font, consider Franklin Gothic, Syntax, Universe, Frutiger, Myriad, Scala Sans, or Quadraat Sans.

All of them are “modern, minimalist and neutral” and each of them would be more attractive than Helvetica. By the way, don`t worry if you don`t know how to change the default font in Word (not to mention style settings). You are not alone. A Google search for “Microsoft Word changes the default font” (not in quotation marks) gives nearly a million visits. (On the other hand, at least those millions of people took the trouble to look for the answer. What`s your excuse?) Or you can RTFM. Jay runs Prefix, LLC, a consulting firm that helps lawyers learn how to evaluate and evaluate legal services. Jay Shepherd also ran the Boston-based Shepherd Law Group boutique specializing in labor rights management for 13 years. He writes ABA Blawg 100 award winner The Client Revolution, which focuses on reinventing the legal business, and Gruntled Employees, a workplace blog. Follow Jay on Twitter at @jayshep or email him at js@shepherdlawgroup.com. So maybe you`re starting to buy this term and you`re ready to consider another standard font for your documents.

(This is an advantage if you`re in a small business; it`s easier to get your business to change its policy.) But which font should you use? The rapid improvement in screen quality is another reason to prefer print-optimized fonts. See Screen Reading Considerations. Understanding the difference between sans-serif and sans-serif fonts can help you decide which legal fonts to use in your legal documents. Serif fonts have a decorative conicity at the beginning and end of the letter. In contrast, sans-serif fonts do not. Serif fonts are traditionally used in newspapers, magazines and books. They exude a more “traditional” look and convey reliability and reliability. In contrast, sans-serif fonts are more modern and simpler. They are also easier to read on screens. If you use a sans-serif font, your law firm`s trademark may seem more accessible and understandable to a younger audience. Yes! Quite simply, fonts affect how your handwriting appears and is perceived. There`s the elegant (and ink-thrifty) Garamond, the Lucida Sans typewriter, the Sans comic strip “I might as well have written this in pencil.” In addition, some dishes have a short list of acceptable fonts that practitioners cannot deviate from.

So, if you are looking for the best fonts for your legal documents, here are some suggestions. #1> To get high contrast, I set my choice of font style and font size in my software to apply to the incoming text. This only works if the switch is enabled by the sender and does not work with PDF files. In both cases, I have to copy the text into another program with which I can make the change. I use Notepad; many use Word. Either way, it`s a boring waste of time. There are different types of documents and we cannot choose just one type as the best font for documents. Even documents as simple as letters can have different fonts for different types of letters. It is necessary that you always consider what you want the document to achieve, and then choose a font accordingly.

At the same time, note the most commonly accepted font for these documents. Reading technical documents may require more concentration than a contract. So it`s important that the reader doesn`t have to worry about whether it`s an I or an L. Experts recommend a mix of serif and non-serif fonts. For titles, sans-serif fonts such as Arial and Helvetic are recommended, and for the body, serif fonts such as Roman, Georgia, and New Times Roman can be used. For words or sections that need to be highlighted, italics help highlight them. Yes, I don`t like Arial anymore as Comic Sans. Although he is the undisputed king of stupid writing, Comic Sans is at least honest about what it is. But Arial is just a Bland, calorie-free substitute for Helvetica.

If you want to send a message that you really don`t care what your document looks like, or that you`ve never really thought about it, then this is the font for you. .