Writing Better Briefs
The January 2014 edition of the ABA Journal includes an interesting article by Bryan Garner titled The Tyranny of Typewriters. This interesting piece discusses, as the subtitle states, 4 vignettes that lead to a single moral about writing better briefs. Mr. Garner provides four (4) examples of how stubborness to do things “how they have always been done” leads to a less-than-optimal final written product.
First he attacks the age-old desire of attorneys, due sometimes to court rules, to use Courier font. While this might have offered advantages in the typewriter days, he posits that it no longer makes sense with the functionality of today’s computers and digital print capacities. As an example of suspect thinking when it comes to brief writing, Mr. Garner offers a story of a past supervising attorney that told him to use Courier because “…we would not want the court to think we took any pains in making the brief look attractive…We should win on our arguments, not pretty pages.”
Hmmmm, I am sure those pretty pages matter as much, if not more, than the oral advocacy that follows the submission of the brief.
Mr Garner then transitions into a discussion about the change in writing from putting two spaces after a period (in-between sentences) to only one space. I have never heard of this, and if you look at this blog post you will see that apparently I am resisting this proposition. Next, he discusses his consulting role in the proposed changes to FRAP 32 and how, in spite of expert recommendations, there was strong resistance to transitioning the language of the rule from requiring monospaced fonts to allowing for more reader-friendly proportional serif fonts. Lastly, he offers a brief discussion on mumpsimus, defined as one who continues perpetrating a clear error even after irrefutable correction. Perhaps this is something which many lawyers and legal writers suffer.
The article concludes by suggesting a source to assist lawyers with writing, Typography for Lawyers. As a teaser, it also provides a few examples of “backward conventions” in briefs, such as:
- Overuse of all-caps
- Not putting ample space above and below headings for added emphasis
- Underlining headings that should merely be boldface
Of course, as the author concedes, there is much room for debate on the stylistic best practices of briefs. You should check out the article and see if it motivates you to change some antiquated ways.