Appearing Professional
Pick up a copy of a court’s rules. Look at the section that gives details on how to prepare a brief. Note the requirements for typesetting a brief:
- the typeface must be at least a certain size
- that face can contain no more than a certain number of characters per inch
- it must be a serif face
- the width of a line of type can be no greater than the specified length
- there must be at least some specified distance between each line of type
- the type must be printed in black ink on white paper
There are reasons for these rules.
Compare a legal brief to a book in a bookstore. Note the similarities in the appearance of the type. The body of both the brief and the book are set in a serif face, and they’re both set in lines that contain from 60 to 80 characters per line.
There are two key reasons for these similarities: legibility and readability.
Now, take a look at this client alert published by a major law firm. Notice that the body of it is set in a sans-serif face instead of a serif face. Notice the length of the lines of type, some of which contain over 100 characters.
The client alert sacrifices legibility and readability not for any good reason at all, but because the people who produced it aren’t pros.
Does it matter? Well, yes . . . if you want to look good, if you want to appear professional, if you want prospective clients to assume that you hire professionals, then it certainly does.
