Most Professional Legal Font

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 memoirs. Recently, the Virginia Supreme Court released a new list of acceptable fonts. And the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit says lawyers should avoid using Times New Roman — so their audience is less likely to quickly scan legal briefs without retaining the contents of the document. The Florida Supreme Court also recently issued new appeal rules for police for lawyers. The new rules include changing the number of pages and words for briefs and appeal submissions for computer-generated documents. Specifically, they require lawyers to use Arial or Bookman Old Style in 14 points to ensure readability on monitors.

The following legal document fonts should help you start brainstorming and determine your firm`s distinctive style: When looking to develop a law firm website, it`s important to note that your website will make a first impression with clients. It must be professionally designed and the logo at the top of your company`s website, letterheads, and business cards represent the company. It must be designed to represent the image of the company. Looking at the font style for the company`s logo and website, there are two categories of font styles: serif and sans-serif. The typography and font family you choose depends entirely on your law firm. Does your business carry on a family legacy? If so, a serif policy may be preferable. But if your business reverses its heritage and becomes more modern, a sans serif font might be the right choice. The best legal fonts are useful for better engaging the audience, making an impression on the reader, and communicating more effectively. Lawyers invest a lot of time in creating documents, memos, and briefs, so focusing on words and their fonts in legal writing will help make legal writing stand out and convince the reader. If you consider the alternatives in this chapter and still prefer Times New Roman or other system fonts, I will think no less of you. I even admit that there are situations like emails and draft documents where system fonts are the best option. The font size takes into account both readability and space.

If a document can be printed, the size can be 12, while digital documents should not exceed 14. The best font size for business documents allows readers to read easily and does not give the impression of a high tone. Alternatively, you can turn to other lawyers. After moving to Virginia, ABA Journal asked its readers to rate their favorite legal fonts. There have been plenty of Century Schoolbook fans (what lawyer wouldn`t want to feel like a Supreme Court justice typing?), as well as users of Cambria, Garamond, and Times New Roman. The default font size for legal documents is size 12. Some lawyers increase their font size to 14 to improve readability on screens. In a legal environment, a clear and legible font is essential. And while there`s no official list of allowed fonts, some are used most often. You can also look at fonts that other dishes use themselves. The Supreme Court uses Century Schoolbook for its opinions, Lucida Sans Typewriter for its daily orders.

The Arkansas Supreme Court likes Garamond, and the First and Fourth Districts use Courier. (The Seventh Circuit has a seven-page typography guide for those who want to dig deeper.) It is also important to consider size, especially if the contract is to be read by someone with eye defects. Between 12 and 14 years old, according to experts, this can go well. You may notice a variation in font size for legal documents, but the best option would be to use 14, which is easy to read and doesn`t seem too big. When it comes to court decisions on legal document policies, it`s always good to see which font is recommended by the court in that jurisdiction. To give an example, the U.S. Supreme Court requires lawyers to use “Century Family” fonts for all briefs, while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit suggests that attorneys should not use Times New Roman. The Virginia Supreme Court also issued a list of acceptable fonts for briefs and other documents. The Florida Supreme Court also issued new appeal rules for policies to be used by lawyers. These rules require lawyers to use Arial or Bookman Old Style with font size 14 to check readability on monitors.

In general, serif fonts (think Times New Roman and Garamond) are about ancestry and inheritance. They are classic and traditional, and we associate them with reliability and reliability. They can also be considered a little old school and are rarely used by tech companies and startups. When writing legal documents, what works for one document may not work for another. After Covid-19, customers have become familiar with online reading and tend to read documents on their mobile phones. It states that it is important to improve and optimize legal documents to make them readable on any device. Sometimes the courts also set rules for the best fonts to use in legal documents or on law firm websites. Keeping in mind all the considerations and best practices, this article highlights the best legal fonts and their sizes for legal documents. And this also applies to legal documents. While it`s not a form of marketing, your writing style will be known by your colleagues. Keeping it consistent (and unique) is a great way to be recognizable.

As the standard font for legal documents, Times New Roman (along with Arial and Helvetica) is one of the most commonly used fonts. While there`s nothing inherently wrong with these fonts, their use signals a lack of choice — in other words, apathy. As Harvard-educated lawyer and typographer Matthew Butterick writes in Typography for Lawyers, “Times New Roman is not a choice of typeface, but the absence of a choice of font, just as the darkness of deep space is not color.” In short, choose a different font to show your legal clients and readers that you care about your legal writing.