Set in Style

Let’s begin with a relevant quote:

“There’s a lot more to learn about typography than most lawyers realize. Or want to realize.”
— Bryan Garner; Legal Writing in Plain English

One of the things lawyers — those who want to appear as if they know their way around computers — need to know is when they should use italics and underlines.

In a nutshell: use italics for emphasis and case names; use underlines for hyperlinks.

Note: Underlines became antiques while the IBM Selectric was hot. They got all modern again with the advent of the World Wide Web. Nobody but nobody uses them for emphasis anymore.

Consider what Matthew Butterick — an attorney who knows how to set copy in style — says about using underlines:

Italics do have more use than just to emphasize a word or phrase. They’re also used for the titles of works, and they’re used for case names (e.g., Miranda v. Arizona). If you want the entire rundown on italics (and many other matters related to setting copy), see The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation.

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Let’s look at some type from a large law firm’s antitrust law blog.

Note the use of underlines in the following copy to set off monetary amounts, as well as the conjunction at the end of the copy:

Here’s a small test — find something that’s set by pros (perhaps The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, or Forbes, Fortune, or BusinessWeek), and see how monetary amounts (and conjunctions) are set and ask yourself why you’re not doing things as they (the pros) do. 

Heck, see how the U. S. Supreme Court doesn’t bother to use underlines, and ask yourself the same question. 

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Let’s look at another sample:

Two things to note: 1), the case name is set with an underline even though it isn’t a hyperlink to the opinion, and 2), the type is darker from the start of the case name until a bit beyond the citation.

To a pro, this is weird (as is the use of French spacing between sentences). 

Here’s another sample:

Note the use of underlines. Note also what might be a link to Whole Foods’ petition. (It is a link to the petition.)

Let’s see if we can find yet another way of doing the same thing:

In this sample, the link to the court’s opinion is set the way links are set: the way readers are used to seeing them set.

What the large law firm’s blog fails to do is 1), follow well established rules, and 2), be consistent. 

This does two things: 1), it burdens readers, and 2), it makes the firm seem like it doesn’t pay close attention to detail.

You don’t want your blog to do either — not if you want it to attract clients.

This entry was posted 10 February 2009 at 9:09 and is filed under General, Modern Marketing Materials, Setting Things Right. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.