Typography for lawyers
by Matthew Butterick · first published 2010
80% recommend20% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A practical, accessible introduction to typography for lawyers and anyone writing documents. It offers clear advice on fonts, dashes, quotes and layout, and shows how to improve the presentation of text.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Based on the popular website, Typography for Lawyers is the first guide to the essentials of typography aimed specifically at lawyers. Author Matthew Butterick, a Harvard-trained typographer and practicing attorney, dispels the myth that legal documents are incompatible with excellent typography. Butterick explains how to get professional results with the tools you already have quickly and easily. Topics include special keyboard characters, line length, point size, font choice, headings, and hyphenation. The book also includes tutorials on specific types of documents like ršumš, research memos
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…some hyperbolic statements at times, but Butterick as a whole is very accessible. The only annoyance was ignoring Butterick's plugs for his personal typefaces. I was very happy to buy a copy of his typography for lawyers book for a friend as recompense for this resource.
on “Choosing the perfect typeface” ↗…Comic Sans. The Supreme Court italicizes case names differently. Massachusetts state court wants 1.5" margins on two sides. Wisconsin wants 1.5" on just the left. Templates help, as does Butterick's Typography for Lawyers, and a good checklist. But it's still a slog to internalize all the local customs in a multi-state practice. And yes, these are heuristics to identify locals and repeat players, which might be helpful…
on “Say Yes to Markdown, No to MS Word” ↗I recently discovered Practical Typography [1] and Typography for Lawyers [2] by Matthew Butterick which have changed the way I've approached presenting information. I would highly recommend each for anyone who uses text to communicate. Butterick is a Tufte for text. [1] https://practicaltypography.com…
on “The Legibility of Serif and Sans Serif Typefaces on Paper and Screens” ↗Oh wow, I didn't realize there was a new Butterick book. I bought Typography for Lawyers a few years ago and learned more than I expected to learn about en/em dashes and quote usage; information that probably ought to be part of any middle school keyboarding class curriculum.
on “The economics of a web-based book, year two” ↗…favorite is Frances Yates's The Art of Memory (think: intersection of rhetoric, mnemonic systems, philosophical systems, and the occult during the Renaissance). Matthew Butterick's Practical Typography and Typography for Lawyers. Bryan Garner's The Winning Brief. Umberto Eco's How to Write a Thesis. Adler's How to Read a Book. Pierre Bayard's How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read. I could go on. Book posts are my favorite…
on “Ask HN: What books have been worth your time?” ↗First, I want to congratulate Matthew on creating a truly valuable resource that people love and are learning from. That's the hardest part of any online business. Typography for Lawyers and Practical Typography are great resources that deserve every bit of praise and attention they've received. Whenever someone creates something this valuable I like to see that they get paid for their…
on “The economics of a web-based book” ↗IANAL, but I'm purchasing the OP's other book, "Typography for Lawyers" ($10 on Kindle) http://www.amazon.com/Typography-for-Lawyers-ebook/dp/B005JV... Partly to thank the author for writing the OP, but also because I find it just fascinating that he found a niche not just…
on “Practical Typography” ↗…Visual design itself is a huge field: I recommend you get started with typography because it's extremely important, most people don't understand it at all, and you can decent designs out of boxes and type. Typography for Lawyers (http://www.typographyforlawyers.com/) is one of the best general overviews of typography I've seen online. There are lawyer-specific details, but the basics are mostly all there. It's important to remember…
on “Ask HN: Learning Web Design” ↗I think learning about typography would be a good stepping stone to learning design in general. Start off by reading Typography for Lawyers and iA’s post “Web Design is 95% Typography”. Both links have great advice and talk about the fundamentals of typography and type on the web. If the last links perked your interest than I recommend picking…
on “Ask HN: How do I pick up some good design fundamentals” ↗…of it. Always keep that in mind. Typography The other stuff mentioned here is also essential to know, but don't forget type. Type can (and will) make or break a design. I recommend taking a look at Typography for Lawyers (http://www.typographyforlawyers.com/) to get a start, even if you're not a lawyer. It has a good overview of a lot of the things you need to be thinking about, and you can ignore the lawyer-specific…
on “Ask HN: How can I get better at design?” ↗…two pieces instead. Bear in mind that the grid guide is more of an intro piece; you probably won't be able to create grid-based websites after reading it (I know I wasn't). Another good resource is Typography for Lawyers[3]. I'm actually very surprised (and disappointed!) that Paul didn't mention it. It's recently undergone a redesign, which has rendered all its former links broken, and it seems a little harder to navigate…
on “Crash Course: Design for Startups” ↗Lol, there is a book called Typography for Lawyers, which is decent. http://typographyforlawyers.com/toc.html
on “Ask HN: Best book on topography?” ↗Other fantastic projects by the same author: “Typography for Lawyers” https://typographyforlawyers.com/ “The Book is a Program” https://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen/
on “Beautiful Racket” ↗…gotten around to paying anything for it, largely for the reasons you mention. I looked at his options for payment, and they ranged from "buy one of my fonts", which was tempting but expensive, to "buy Typography for Lawyers", which I wasn't interested in because I'm not a lawyer, to "donate to me", which felt like I was getting nothing in return. I'd gladly pay $10-15 for a DRM-free ebook version of this book, even if it's…
on “The economics of a web-based book” ↗This is not a standalone article but a section from Butterick's book, "Typography for Lawyers", which is hosted in full on the website. The book is an opinionated style manual, and many alternatives are described in nearby sections.
on “A brief history of Times New Roman” ↗