When it comes tofonts and typefaces , everyone has a preference . peradventure you ’re a Helvetica somebody . ( So are scores of companies . It ’s the mostpopulartypeface in the world . ) Maybe you indite documents using Arial or Times New Roman . Or perchance you want to defy convention and use something fancy . If you ’re work with the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit , that could be a trouble .
Recently , the D.C. Circuit come forth a notice [ PDF ] scolding legal professional for filing paperwork using the Garamond font . The issue , according to the court , is that Garamond “ seem smaller ” than the more acceptable Century and Times New Roman fonts , make it more difficult to read .
But there ’s another , trickierreasonthe court may be coming down on Garamond . Because the font is smaller than comparable typefaces , it ’s potential for attorney to skirt mandate varlet boundary for court filings . Garamond let them to fit more textual matter into a varlet . It’spossible , according to some legal professionals , to shave several pages off a legal brief if Garamond is employ .
One possible reason this is becoming an issue now is because more judges are translate filings on screens , where Garamond ’s sizing might be a lilliputian more difficult to decipher .
Garamond wascreatedby French engraver Claude Garamond in the 16th 100 and is probably familiar to readers of theHarry PotterandHunger Gamesbook franchises .
The D.C. Circuit “ encourages ” the consumption of Century or Times New Roman in 14 - compass point font with serif , which advert to the wings on letter . While it ’s not an outright ban , the notice give-up the ghost on to say that “ evasion of the length limitations may leave in the court ’s rejection of the brief . ” Those who refuse the judges ’ predilection may get a letter of rejection in return — most likely write in Times New Roman .
[ h / tBloomberg ]
