Typography for Lawyers [Paperback]

Matthew Butterick (Author), Bryan A. Garner (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1598390775 | ISBN-13: 978-1598390773 | Edition: 1st Edition

"If Matthew Butterick didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him." From the Foreword by Bryan A. Garner

Based on the popular website, Typography for Lawyers is the first guide to the essentials of typography aimed specifically at lawyers. Author Matthew Butterick, an attorney and Harvard-trained typographer, 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 résumés, research memos, and motions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Matthew Butterick got his B.A. degree magna cum laude from Harvard University in visual & environmental studies. Butterick's work is in the permanent collection of the Houghton Library at Harvard. Butterick started his career as a font designer and engineer, working for David Berlow and Matthew Carter on projects for Apple Computer, Microsoft, Ziff-Davis, and others. Neville Brody featured his work in FUSE, Brody's journal of experimental typography. Butterick designed Herald Gothic, Wessex, and the popular sans serif family Hermes.
At the beginning of the Internet era, Butterick moved to San Francisco and founded Atomic Vision, a website design and engineering company. Butterick and his staff created award-winning websites for Internet pioneers like CNET, Netscape, Verisign, and Wired magazine. Butterick lectured in the United States and Europe on website development and user-interface design.
Atomic Vision was acquired by open-source software developer Red Hat. Butterick was part of the management team behind Red Hat's successful IPO and its transition to Internet-based distribution.
Butterick attended UCLA law school and became a member of the California bar in 2007. He practices civil and criminal law.
Butterick newest font is Equity, a text face inspired by legal typog­ra­phy and the needs of legal writ­ers (available at equityfont.com)

Butterick lives in the Hollywood Hills with his wife Jessica and Roxy the boxer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Jones McClure Publishing; 1st Edition edition (November 12, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598390775
• ISBN-13: 978-1598390773
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Law > Business > Reference
  • #53 in Books > Law > Law Practice

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Lawyer? Ingest this. November 23, 2010

By Andrew Lahser

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

There are two things lawyers use daily: a chair and a word processor. Smart lawyers get comfortable with both. For me, adjusting my chair is straightforward. Adjusting my word processor (and my word processing habit) is not.

Butterick helps you make the adjustment from the typewriter rules that you learned in school. As a result, your documents will have predictable style. Your document's style will clearly guide your reader. Will this make your document more persuasive? Yes, with surprisingly little work.

If you are still not sure whether you should buy this book, just spend a little time at the companion website: typographyforlawyers.com. The advantages of the book over the website are three: better guidance for choosing a professional font, more examples of before/after, and word processor specific advice. The only thing missing is CLE credit.

Finally, I spent about 2 hours on the website and 4 hours with the book. This included the time spent modifying my default templates, fiddling with word processor defaults, buying & installing fonts, and incorporating the advice into my workflow. Looking at documents that I create now, I feel great about the return on the time invested.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fanastic resource for attorneys and others January 5, 2011

By Legal Writing Pro

Format:Paperback

This book gives great guidance on everything from how to format dashes to how to find the ideal line spacing. Another interesting feature is an annotated guide to the pros and cons of various fonts. The author even offers alternatives to Times New Roman and other popular fonts that the Seventh Circuit and other courts have criticized.

One of the most interesting observations comes at the end, where the author notes that the bland, homogenous appearance of most filings stems not from court rules but from the "bandwagon effect." Butterick encourages lawyers to explore instead the "typographical latitude" that nearly all courts allow. The endgame, he reminds us, is to make filings readable, if not enjoyable.

I also appreciated the hints on letterhead and business cards, Bryan Garner's witty foreword, and the author's pervasive passion for his subject.

All in all, a terrific resource that is sure to become the definitive guide to typography in the legal profession and perhaps beyond.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensible November 29, 2010

By Robert Glazier

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a book that every lawyer should own.

Lawyers prepare many papers, but rarely have solid information on how things should be arranged. They don't know about the best practices that have developed in the centuries since Gutenberg. Matthew Butterick supplies that information. In 200 easily-read pages, he explains what typographers have learned about how text should be arranged.

For example:

* Add only one space after periods. There is no good reason to add two spaces.

* Use real "small caps," rather than imitation ones created by your word processor.

* Use italics, not underlining.

* Never use courier as your font.

* Use Times New Roman only if you are absolutely required by court rules.

There is much more. Read about the book on his web site, [...]. And then buy the book.