Recently, the Supreme Court of Virginia released a new list of acceptable fonts. For example, The US Supreme Court requires that Century family fonts must be used in all briefs. Supreme Court rules on legal document fontsĪlways check with your jurisdiction for specific rules on accepted legal fonts. But in general, when drafting legal briefs, contracts, memos, etc., go with a clean, professional-looking font that is easy to read and appropriate for your brand. Ideally, you’ll already have some law firm fonts to work with based on your firm’s brand. Similarly, you need to use legal fonts that reflect your law firm brand in your legal documents. If all the content on their website, labels, and marketing materials were in a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial, how would your perception of the brand change? Chances are the brand would become a lot more boring and less appealing. Think about your favorite brands and the products you use regularly. This contributes to a positive perception of your law firm brand. Using Times New Roman or Arial in font sizes that are too small doesn’t cut it anymore.įun fact: Serif fonts are typically more suitable for printed legal documents, while sans serif fonts are easier to read on screens.īy ensuring your legal documents are as readable as possible for your clients, other attorneys, and judges, etc., you’re showing that you care about the user experience. This means it’s more important than ever to optimize legal documents so they’re easy to read on any screen. Also, more and more lawyers, legal professionals, and even clients work on the go from anywhere, even on a mobile device. What works for a court pleading may not work for a contract that your client will sign through a digital app like DocuSign. When selecting a legal font, keep in mind how your reader is going to read your legal document. As attorney and Harvard-trained typographer Matthew Butterick writes in Typography for Lawyers, “Times New Roman is not a font choice so much as the absence of a font choice, like the blackness of deep space is not a color.” In short, choose another font to show your legal clients and readers that you care about your legal writing. While there is nothing inherently wrong with these fonts, using them signals a lack of choice-in other words, apathy.

Legal fonts: Why they matter in legal documents First impressions countĪs a standard font for legal documents, Times New Roman (along with Arial and Helvetica) is one of the most commonly used fonts. We’ll also include some tidbits on how understanding the difference between serif and sans serif fonts can help you select the right font.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss why legal fonts matter in legal documents, and the best fonts and font sizes to use in legal documents and your law firm’s website.

Paying attention to how the words look will help your legal writing stand out and persuade your reader better. Lawyers spend a vast amount of time drafting legal briefs, memos, court documents, and more every day. But did you know that the best legal fonts can better engage your audience, communicate more effectively, and impact how others perceive your law firm’s brand ? Also, some courts have outlined the fonts that they accept, which lawyers need to follow. Why do legal fonts matter? After all, you’ve worked hard to become a lawyer-not a designer.

Gothic fonts on google docs