Writing Matters

• Publication year: 2021
• Pages: 0062
• Citation: Vol. 26 No. 6 Pg. 0062

Writing Matters Vol. 26 No. 6 Pg. 62 Georgia Bar Journal June, 2021

The Art of Briefs and Motions

Content is critical. But presentation matters. The words on the page form a picture. As you approach your next brief or motion, consider what picture you are creating with your text.

BY DAVID HRICIK AND KAREN J. SNEDDON

This installment of "Writing Matters" focuses not on the substance of writing, but on the look of briefs and motions. We'll explore how the visual presentation of text matters. We're not suggesting that your latest motion will be something the Louvre would want to hang. Nonetheless, it should be eye-catching, not an eye sore. We'll start from the smallest details and move to the bigger picture to help you use visual presentation to further the purpose of the document.

Fonts, Type Size and Two Spaces Between Sentences

Of course, many court rules require briefs or motions be in a specific font and type size, and those rules need to be followed. Where you have choice, however, it is important to understand the impact of font selection on readability. For the following reasons, you may not want to use the default font selected by your word processing program.

Fonts have various characteristics.^[1]One key characteristic is whether they are monospaced or proportionally spaced. The space refers to the horizontal space each letter occupies: each letter in a monospaced font has the same horizontal width, and so "width" in the monospace font Courier New looks like this: "width."^[2] Research shows many reasons to prefer proportional to monospaced fonts:

Compared to proportional fonts, monospaced fonts are harder to read. And because they take up more horizontal space, you'll always get fewer words per page. There are no good reasons to use monospaced fonts. Courier and Courier New are monospaced fonts. American Typewriter is another. These monospaced fonts cause a reading delay of almost 5%. That equals a significant delay of almost 15 words per minute.^[3]

There are many acceptable proportional fonts, but even they have been studied and ranked for readability and utility. Pick among them.^[4]

In addition to considering the space of each character, consider the space between sentences. Two spaces between sentences or one space, that is the question. The answer is: one space between sentences will do with proportional fonts.

Avoid Multiple Forms of Typographical Emphasis and Emphasize Only When Needed Some words need emphasis. Bolding, italicizing and underlining are forms of typographical emphasis. Just as you can choose which font to use...