Briefly: How not to yell at the court.

Byline: Eric Magnuson and Lisa Beane

Writers like emphasis. And legal writers really like it. They want to make sure their most important points stand out for the reader. Often they think the audience won't read carefully enough to pick up the most important points unless they are flagged in some way. So if bold is good, bold and italics must be better, and the best is surely BOLD, ITALICS AND ALL CAPS.

Not so fast. Readers have a different view: They want things to be clean, simple, and easy to read, and they don't want to be left with the impression that the writer is yelling at them.

Other columns have appeared in this space on subjects such as writing for screen reading, and why bullet points are good but long blocks of text are bad. See, e.g., Luke Hasskamp and Ryan Marth, "Briefly: Preparing an appealing brief in the digital age," Minn. Lawyer (Aug. 17, 2017). But regardless of whether you're writing for an audience that will read on a screen or on paper, some considerations of clean style and etiquette are universal.

Some of us are natural writers. Others have to work at it. But we can all be technically proficient writers. Beyond The Bluebook, many resources exist that provide guidance on a variety of writing-related subjects, from technical issues such as capitalization and citation to more substantive ones like structuring your arguments or distinguishing authorities. Readers of this column are likely familiar with essential guides like Strunk & White and the Chicago Manual of Style, as well as books by Bryan Garner and Ross Guberman, all of which are indispensable resources for legal writers. We also commend to you the newly published volume by Random House's copy chiefBenjamin Dreyer, Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style (2019)which contains many useful tips for crafting clearer, more concise prose.

Here are some technical writing questions we have considered recently, the answers to which may help to eliminate distractions in your writing and make your brief easier to read, and ultimately more persuasive, without yelling.

When should you use all caps, bold, italics, or other forms of emphasis, and should you ever use them together? This is the question that launched this particular essay.

Emphasis in any form must be used sparingly to be effective. As the late Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner pointed out, "[W]hen too much is emphasized, nothing is." Scalia & Garner, Making Your Case: The Art of...