So what typeface should we be using? The Seventh Circuit recommends a “proportionally spaced type.” What’s proportionally spaced type, you ask? “Proportionally spaced type uses different widths for different characters. Now that only words count, however, everyone gains from a more legible typeface, even if that means extra pages.

In the days before Rule 32, when briefs had page limits rather than word limits, a typeface such as Times New Roman enabled lawyers to shoehorn more argument into a brief. Type with a small x-height functions well in columns that contain just a few words, but not when columns are wide (as in briefs and other legal papers). This face was designed for newspapers, which are printed in narrow columns, and has a small x-height in order to squeeze extra characters into the narrow space. Professional typographers avoid using Times New Roman for book-length (or brief-length) documents. Maybe the fallback format requirements of “15 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman, one inch margins” shouldn’t be the fallback? What else does the Seventh Circuit have to say about our old friend Times New Roman? Students don’t want their audience (professors) to read fast and throw the document away either. Lawyers don’t want their audience to read fast and throw the document away they want to maximize retention.” The Times of London chose the typeface Times New Roman to serve an audience looking for a quick read.

Then please read what the Seventh Circuit has to say about its “Requirements and Suggestions for Typography in Briefs and Other Papers.”įor starters, “ypographic decisions should be made for a purpose. Professors, would like to retain more of the information that your students are presenting to you in their typed assignments, papers, briefs, and tests? Students, would you like to make it easier for your professors to retain the information presented in your typed assignments, papers, briefs, and tests?

Times new roman number fonts