Tapping Into Legal Typography - Washington State Bar News

COLUMN > Write to Counsel

BY JACLYN C. CELEBREZZE

In the past two decades, Microsoft Word has changed its default font three times: Times New Roman to Calibri to Aptos.¹ Aptos began its reign in mid-2023.² Yet, an informal survey of Washington Supreme Court briefs seems to indicate that we are still defaulting to Times New Roman when drafting legal documents. I’d say we’re overdue for a style update.

What is legal typography?

Typography is “the style, arrangement, or appearance of typeset matter.”³ One graphic designer describes it as “word art.”⁴ In short, it is the visual appearance of a legal document, encompassing everything from type font and size to layout.

As attorneys, we write to persuade. To do that effectively, we need to make our documents reader-friendly in both substance and style. This requires knowing our audience, their reading habits, and how to grab their attention.

Typically, our audience is an overworked judge with a punishing reading list. As U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Frank Easterbrook noted in a recent opinion, “Judges are long-term consumers of lengthy texts. To present an argument to such people, counsel must make the words easy to read and remember.”⁵

How do we do that? Effective document design. As Ruth Anne Robbins, professor of law at Rutgers Law School, explains in her comprehensive article on legal typography, “Painting with Print: Incorporating Concepts of Typographic and Layout Design into the Text of Legal Writing Documents,” “[m]aking a textual document visually effective means making the document as readable as possible. The more readable the document, the more likely the reader will remember the content.”⁶

Choosing a Typeface and Size

Readability starts with font and font size. First, consider your audience and how they will consume the document. Then, if your audience is the court, you’ll need to review your filing requirements to ensure your choices comply with local filing rules. And remember, selecting a font is also a reflection of an attorney’s credibility. “A default font is often the first impression we make; it’s the visual identity we present to other people via our résumés, documents, or emails.”⁷ So choose wisely.

A. Fonts and Font Sizes

Fonts are simply a set of type or characters in one cohesive style. Two varieties of fonts exist: serif and sans serif. Serif fonts have tails or wings.⁸ Sans serif fonts do not.⁹

The font you choose impacts the readability of the document. And readability changes depending on how your reader consumes your document—print or digital. Serif fonts make print documents easier to read.¹⁰ Sans serif fonts are best for digital documents.¹¹

So, what’s an attorney drafting for a judge who will initially read a brief in print and then later review it electronically to do? Compromise.

It’s a judgment call, but the consensus seems to be to err on the side of using serif fonts.¹² Why? Improvements in screen-resolution design are minimizing the print and digital divide.¹³ In other words, serif fonts work in both contexts, but sans serif fonts do not.

Once you’ve decided upon your font, you’ll need to select a standard font size for your brief’s headings and for the body text. And, again, you’ll need to consult your local court rules before making a final decision. So let’s take a look at Washington state court rules and Ninth Circuit filing rules on font and font size before I offer my font and font size recommendations.

B. State and Federal Court Guidance on Font and Font Size

> Washington Courts

When filing in a Washington appellate court, attorneys can select any 14-point font of their choice. A serif font choice should be equivalent to Times New Roman. A sans serif font choice should be equivalent to Arial.¹⁴ Washington’s superior courts tend to allow even greater latitude, simply requiring filings to be “legibly written or printed.”¹⁵ However, best practice is to pick a font and font size and stick with it.

> The Ninth Circuit

The Ninth Circuit provides attorneys with considerable choice when selecting a font. The court allows attorneys to draft in any serif font and use any sans serif font for headings. This court also allows proportionally spaced or monospaced fonts. Proportionally spaced fonts must be in 14-point or larger. Monospaced fonts must be in 10.5-point or larger.¹⁶

What’s the difference? Proportionally spaced fonts are just that: proportional. Different letters are different sizes. Monospaced fonts use the same width for all letters.¹⁷

Here’s my ultimate recommendation on font and font size for Washington attorneys: Skip the headache and use a proportionally spaced serif font such as Century Schoolbook in 14-point for content and a sans serif font such as Avenir or Franklin Gothic in 16-point font for headings. But if you want to explore your options a bit more, typographer and lawyer Matthew Butterick has helpfully ranked various system fonts and provided his candid thoughts on each in his book, Typography for Lawyers.¹⁸

> Text Formatting

Before moving on, let’s do a quick rundown on text formatting: italicizing, bolding, underlining, and capitalization.

Italicize or bold text within your document to draw attention to it and increase its memorability as each of these formats will slow the reader down and make them take note.¹⁹ But you have to be judicious, or you risk negating your efforts. And only use one formatting technique at a time. Butterick recommends “[w]ith a serif font, use italic for gentle emphasis, or bold for heavier emphasis.”²⁰
Underlining is a non-starter. It makes the text harder for the reader to process.²¹
Finally, avoid using all-caps; it tires your reader out.²² While many believe this formatting choice signals importance, resist the urge—it reads like a scream.

Layout

Finally, let’s talk about layout. To optimize the readability and memorability of any legal document, attorneys should focus on four key components of document layout: contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity.²³

Contrast: Use contrasting fonts and sizes in your headings and body to project the hierarchy of documents.²⁴ See my earlier recommendations.
Alignment: Court rules may limit your options, but if given the choice, left-align your brief’s text to maximize readability.²⁵
Repetition: Be consistent in your formatting choices throughout the whole document.²⁶ Unexpected typography changes are jarring for the reader.
Proximity: Keep related items close together on the page. If you want to separate issues, give them some distance from each other.²⁷

Conclusion

Document design is a subtle, yet substantial technique for improving your written advocacy. Stick to the basics outlined in this article, and you’ll have a new template for briefs in no time. Let’s refresh our legal typography and say a fond farewell to Times New Roman.

ASK US > If you have a question about legal writing that you’d like to see addressed in a future “Write to Counsel” column by UW Law writing faculty, please submit it to wabarnews@wsba.org, with the subject line “Write to Counsel.”

About the author

Jaclyn C. Celebrezze is an assistant teaching professor at the University of Washington School of Law, where she teaches first-year legal analysis, research, and writing.

NOTES

1. See Si Daniels, “Beyond Calibri: Finding Microsoft’s Next Default Font,” Medium, (April 28, 2021), https://medium.com/microsoft-design/beyond-calibri-finding-the-next-microsoft-365-default-font-5ef83f028be2.

2. See Si Daniels, “A Change of Typeface: Microsoft’s New Default Font has Arrived,” Medium, (July 13, 2023), https://medium.com/microsoft-design/a-change-of-typeface-microsofts-new-default-font-has-arrived-f200eb16718d.

3. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/typography (last visited Jan. 1, 2026).

4. Dylan Todd & Madeline DeCotes, “Serif vs Sans Serif Fonts: When to Use Which,” www.adobe.com/creativecloud/design/discover/serif-vs-sans-serif.html (last visited Jan. 1, 2026).

5. AsymaDesign, LLC v. CBL & Associates Mgmt., Inc., 103 F.4th 1257, 1261 (7th Cir. 2024).

6. Ruth Anne Robbins, “Painting with Print: Incorporating Concepts of Typographic and Layout Design into the Text of Legal Writing Documents,” 2 J. ALWD 108, 113 (2004).

7. See Si Daniels, “Beyond Calibri: Finding Microsoft’s Next Default Font,” Medium, (April 28, 2021), https://medium.com/microsoft-design/beyond-calibri-finding-the-next-microsoft-365-default-font-5ef83f028be2.

8. Ruth Anne Robbins, supra note 6, at 119.

9. Id. at 119.

10. Id. at 119-20.

11. Id. at 127.

12. Id. at 119-20.

13. Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents (Thomson Reuters, 2d ed 2018), https://typographyforlawyers.com/screen-reading-considerations.html (last visited Jan. 1, 2026).

14. RAP 18.17.

15. Wash. GR 14.

16. FRAP Rule 32 (5).

17. Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents (Thomson Reuters, 2d ed 2018), https://typographyforlawyers.com/monospaced-fonts.html.

18. Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents (Thomson Reuters, 2d ed 2018), https://typographyforlawyers.com/system-fonts.html.

19. Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents (Thomson Reuters, 2d ed 2018), https://typographyforlawyers.com/bold-or-italic.html.

20. Id.

21. See Bryan Garner, “Law Prose Lesson 271: Ban Underlining in Your Legal Documents,” Law Prose, Jan. 17, 2017, https://lawprose.org/lawprose-lesson-271-ban-underlining-legal-documents/.

22. Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents (Thomson Reuters, 2d ed 2018), https://typographyforlawyers.com/all-caps.html.

23. Ruth Anne Robbins, supra note 6, at 126.

24. Id. at 126-8.

25. Id. at 130.

26. Id. at 131.

27. Id. at 128.