“Use a different font? But doesn’t every court require 12-point Times New Roman?” No—in fact, none do. Below is a summary of the font rules in major court systems.
I’m obligated to point out that this is not legal advice. Corrections and additions are welcome (I’m starting with the most populous states and working downward, so you’ll have to be patient, Wyoming attorneys.)
An excellent article by Ruth Anne Robbins, Painting With Print, has font rules for many of the jurisdictions not yet listed below.
California
Superior: “Typeface must be essentially equivalent to Courier, Times New Roman, or Arial.” Cal. R. Ct. 2.105. Type must be “not smaller than 12 points”. Cal. R. Ct. 2.104.
Appellate: “Any conventional typeface may be used” and “must not be smaller than 13 point”. Cal. R. Ct. 8.204(b)(2) and (b)(4).
Federal, Central District: Requires either a “proportionally spaced or a monospaced face”. Proportional fonts must be 14 point or larger. Individual judges may set other requirements. C.D. Cal. Local R. 11-3.1.1.
Federal, Eastern District: Requires only that documents be “clearly legible”. E.D. Cal. Local R. 7-130(b).
Federal, Northern District: “Type may not be smaller than 12-point standard font (e.g. Times New Roman)”. N.D. Cal. Local R. 3-4(c)(2).
Federal, Southern District: “[T]ype shall not be smaller than 12-point standard font (e.g. Times New Roman)”. S.D. Cal. Local R. 5.1(a).
Connecticut
Appellate: Must use either Arial or Univers, 12-point or larger. Ct. Prac. Book §§ 66-3 and 67-2.
Delaware
Delaware District Court: “All printed matter must appear in at least 12 point type” D. Del. L.R. 5.1.1(a).
Supreme Court, Court of Chancery: “All printed matter must appear in at least 11 point type” Del. R. Civ. P. 13(a)(i); Del. Ct. Ch. R. 171(d)(2). Footnotes shall be “of the same type size as the text of the brief.” Del. R. Civ. P. 13(d).
Superior Court, Family Court, Court of Common Pleas, and Justice of the Peace courts do not specify the typeface or type size for court filings. See Del. Super. Ct. R. Civ. P. 7(d); Del. Fam. Ct. R. Civ. P. 7; Del. J.P. Ct. R. Civ. P. 10.
Federal: “Printed matter must appear in at least 11 point type.” Del. L. R. 7.1.3(a).
(Thanks to Molly DiBianca.)
Florida
Civil: The rules of civil procedure are silent on the matter. Fl. R. Civ. P. 1.100 and 1.110.
Appellate: You can choose Times New Roman 14-point or Courier New 12-point. Fl. R. App. P. 9.210(a)(2). Certainly not an “appealing” choice.
Federal, Middle District: Papers “shall be typewritten … in at least twelve-point”. M.D. Fl. Local R. 1.05(a). However, “typewritten” does not imply a monospaced font—court filings in the Middle District use proportional fonts, both serif and sans serif.
Federal, Northern District: Must be “typewritten, no smaller than 12 point font”. N.D. Fl. Local R. 5.1(B)(3). I will assume “typewritten” is construed broadly, as it is in the Middle District.
Federal, Southern District: Must be “plainly typed or written”. S.D. Fl. Local R. 5.1.A.4.
Illinois
Circuit: Papers must be “legibly written, typewritten, [or] printed”. Ill. Sup. Ct. R. 131(a).
Appellate & Supreme: “Typeface must be 12-point or larger”. Ill. Sup. Ct. R. 341(a).
Federal, Central District: Allows proportional or monospaced fonts. Proportional fonts must be “12-point or larger”. C.D. Ill. Local R. 5.1(C).
Federal, Northern District: Requires only 12-point type. N.D. Ill. Local R. 5.2(b)(1).
Federal, Southern District: Papers shall be “plainly typewritten” or “printed”. S.D. Ill. Local. R. 5.1(b).
New York
Supreme (trial courts): Requires “clear type”, at least 12-point. N.Y.C.P.L.R. 2101, Uniform R. 202.5 and 200.3.
Supreme Court, Appellate Division: No general rule; allows local rules. N.Y.C.P.L.R. 5529.
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Dept. No local rule. 22 N.Y.C.R.R. § 600.2.
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Dept.: Requires “a serifed, proportionally spaced typeface such as Times Roman, or a serifed, monospaced typeface such as Courier. Narrow or condensed typefaces and/or condensed font spacing may not be used” and must be set at 14 point. Furthermore, “Except in headings, words may not be in bold type or type consisting of all capital letters.” 22 N.Y.C.R.R. § 670.10.3.
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Dept. No local rule. 22 N.Y.C.R.R. § 800.8.
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Dept. Requires “standard typographical printing” at no less than 11 point. 22 N.Y.C.R.R. § 1000.4(f)(2).
Court of Appeals: Requires “a serifed, proportionally spaced typeface such as Times Roman, or a serifed, monospaced typeface such as Courier. Narrow or condensed typefaces and/or condensed font spacing may not be used” and must be set at 14 point. Furthermore, “Except in headings, words may not be in bold type or type consisting of all capital letters.” 22 N.Y.C.R.R. § 500.1(e).
Federal, Eastern District: Only requires that it be “plainly” printed. E.D.N.Y. Local R. 11.1(a).
Federal, Northern District: Must be “plainly and legibly written” at a “minimum of 12-point type”. N.D.N.Y. Local R. 10.1(b) and (a).
Federal, Southern District: Shares the same local rules as Eastern District.
Federal, Western District: Must be “plainly and legibly written” in “at least 12-point type”. W.D.N.Y. Local Civ. R. 10(a); W.D.N.Y. Local Crim. R. 49.2(a).
Texas
District: No statewide rule. Tex. R. Civ. P. 45(d). It’s possible there are local rules, but Texas has hundreds of court districts. If you’re a Texas practitioner who knows the answer, please email me.
Appellate and Supreme: Must use a 10 character per inch monospaced typeface like Courier, or a “13-point or larger proportionally spaced typeface”. Tex. R. App. P. 9.4(e).
Federal, Eastern District: Text must be “plainly … printed” no smaller than 12 point. E.D. Tex. Local Civ. R. 10.
Federal, Northern District: No special requirements. N.D. Tex. Local R. 10-1.
Federal, Southern District: No special requirements. S.D. Tex. Local R. 10.2.
Federal, Western District: No special requirements. W.D. Tex. Local. R. 10.
Federal appellate
Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (applies to all circuits): Must use serif type for text, but sans serif type acceptable for headings and captions. Must be 14-point or larger. Monospaced fonts cannot contain more than 10.5 characters per inch. Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(5)(A),(B).
Second Circuit: No local rule.
Fifth Circuit: No local rule.
Seventh Circuit: Allows font sizes down to 12-point. Seventh Cir. R. 32. The Seventh Circuit has also published its own essay about typography that echoes many of the points on this website.
Ninth Circuit: No local rule.
Eleventh Circuit: No local rule.
United States Supreme Court: Must use “Century family (e.g., Century Expanded, New Century Schoolbook, or Century Schoolbook) 12-point type with 2-point or more leading between lines”. Sup. Ct. R. 33.1(b).
Why are you using double primes instead of double quotation marks for the quotes? (In HTML, double quotation marks are “ and ”)
Sorry, “ and ”
Which quotes? I only see curly quotes on this page (courtesy of Wordpress, which automatically displays curly quotes when you type in straight ones)
But in general, I don’t really care about the straight / curly difference in small HTML type. There’s barely enough pixels there to make a meaningful difference.
If I may make a grammatical comment (!) pertaining to the second line on this page: “none” is a contraction of “not one” and is therefore singular e.g. “none does”.
I can’t find my curly quotation marks but I have enjoyed reading the contents of this site very much.
Thank you.
According to Garner’s Modern American Usage, the word none “may correctly take either a singular or a plural verb.”
Matthew, thanks. I have told my lawyer-brother about this site. He is the default typographer-in-residence at his firm in Seattle. Actually, he did receive training in typography when he studied journalism at the U of W, and managed to distinguish himself accordingly (surprisingly, without my help). If you need a well designed type designer’s contract drafted, look no further. Also, thanks for your point about “none” versus “not one.” Edifying!
In the requirements for the third California court listed, “proportionally” is misspelled. (Their rule is very odd – what other kinds of fonts are there?)
What’s your favorite font for legal writing? Maybe you could list your top five.
Wonderful site. I enjoyed it.
Excellent. I got in an argument with my boss about single-spacing sentences at my old job… and about using ugly fonts. I’m glad to see I’m not alone.
The Seventh Circuit has published a typography guide (available here) that discusses many of the topics on this website, including the use of proportional typefaces, curly quotes, one space between sentences, etc.
Iowa Appellate Rule 6.16(1) regarding font/typesetting: “All printed or duplicated matter must appear on opaque, unglazed paper and be legible. Such matter must appear in no smaller than pica type (averaging no more than ten characters per inch) or in a 12 point Arrus BT, 12 point Arial, 121 point Courier New, 13 point Times New Roman, or substantially equivalent typeface. Lines of typewritten text shall be double-spaced.”
Florida’s rule is lousy. “Computer-generated briefs shall be submitted in either Times New Roman 14-point font or Courier New 12-point font. All computer-generated briefs shall contain a certificate of compliance signed by counsel, or the party if unrepresented, certifying that the brief complies with the font requirements of this rule.” Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.210(1)(2).
For a while, I ignored this rule in my local appellate court, which is known to be flexible with the rules. Then someone moved to strike my brief, and the court granted the motion. So now I follow the rule, and use Times New Roman.
The reason for the rule is computer access to briefs–standards in typefaces make briefs look the same. Acrobat should have rendered this irrelevant. But the rule remains.
Florida trial courts: as you suggest, there are no rules.
Federal district courts: “Typewritten” does not mean monospaced. Proportional are commonly used.
Note that the federal Southern District requires spacing of 1.5 or greater. Rule 5.1(A)(4). I recently filed a memo with 1.5 spacing, and I think it looked a lot better than the usual double spacing.
The U.S. Tax Court requires a nonproportional font.
Rule 23(d): “Text and footnotes shall appear in consistent typeface no smaller than 12 characters per inch produced by a typewriting element or 12-point type produced by a nonproportional print font (e.g., Courier), with double spacing between each line of text and single spacing between each line of indented quotations and footnotes.”
Bravo. I greatly enjoyed perusing your site. And I learned some stuff.
Congratulations, Matthew!
And thanks… I’ve posted about this site on my blog (http://www.robertlpeters.com/news/?p=1716) and will be referring it to clients who are lawyers, accountants, engineers, doctors… in short, anyone in “the laity” (as seen from the designer’s standpoint) involved in creating informational or transactional documents.
Best wishes from Canada,
Robert L. Peters, FGDC
Principal, Circle Design Incorporated
California Court of Appeal requires “roman” type style:
Rule 8.204(b)(3)The type style must be roman; but for emphasis, italics or boldface may be used or the text may be underscored. Case names must be italicized or underscored. Headings may be in uppercase letters.
Maine R.Civ.P. 7(f) “…All memoranda shall be typed or otherwise printed on one side of the page of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper. The typed matter must be double spaced in at least 12 point type, except that footnotes and quotations may appear in 11 point type. …”
Maine R.Ap.P. 9(f) “…All printed matter must appear in at least 12 point font not smaller than 12 point Bookman on opaque, unglazed paper except that footnotes and quotations may appear in 11 point type. Briefs shall be bound on the left hand margin in volumes having pages 8 1/2 x 11 inches and typed mater not exceeding 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches, with double spacing between each line of text except for quotations. …”
Both trial and appellate state courts require one-sided printing for briefs and memoranda, although recent amendments to the M.R.App.P. 8(f) now require the Appendix to Law Court briefs to be double-sided.
The Local Rules of the District Court for the District of Maine do not address font style or size but Rule 7(e) requires: “All memoranda shall be typed, double-spaced on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper or printed….”
I’ve long used the 7th Circuit’s handbook on typography, but this site is far more readable and contains information not included in that handbook.
Kudos to you for putting this together.
Oh, and I’m glad to see that there’s another Garner groupie out there.
Alaska Fonts -
Alaska Civil Rule 76. Form Papers.
(a) Form in General. All pleadings, motions, affidavits, memoranda, instructions and other papers and documents presented for filing with the clerk or intended for use by the judge, must conform to the following requirements:
(1) Paper Size and Quality: Documents must be 8-1/2 x 11 inches. The paper must be opaque, unglazed white paper of good quality and at least sixteen pound weight.
(2) Typed or Hand Printed in Ink: Text must be typed in clear and legible black typeface or hand printed in black ink.
(3) Typeface and Size: If typed, the text of a document, including headings and footnotes, must be at least 12 point Courier or another typeface allowed under Appellate Rule 513.5(c) if its size meets the requirements of that rule. Footers required under (a)(5) of this rule and certificates of distribution or service may be typed in a smaller font, but not smaller than 10 point.
* * * *
Alaska Appellate Rule 513.5. Form of Papers.
(a) Scope. This rule governs the form of all papers filed in the appellate courts except briefs, transcripts, and excerpts of record. Briefs are governed by subparagraphs (b)(1) - (5) and paragraph (c) of this rule and by Rule 212(b); transcripts are governed by administrative bulletin as provided in Rule 210(b)(7); and excerpts of record are governed by Rule 210(c).
(b) Form in General. Except as provided in subsection (a), all documents presented for filing with the clerk must be:
(1) on 8-1/2 x 11 inches opaque, unglazed white paper of good quality and at least sixteen pound weight.
(2) in clear and legible black typeface or hand-printing in black ink;
(3) double-spaced (line-spacing ” 2 ” if proportionally spaced typeface is used), except that headings and footnotes must be single-spaced and quotations of more than two lines must be single-spaced and indented at least one-half inch on both sides;
(4) if longer than one page, numbered consecutively at the bottom center of each page;
(5) no more than 6-1/2 x 9-1/2 inches of printed or written matter on a page;
(6) printed or written on one side of the paper; and
(7) two-hole punched at the center of the top of each page.
(c) Typeface. (1) The text of documents, including headings and footnotes, must be at least
(A) 12 point (10 monospaced characters per inch) Courier, or substantially similar monospaced text style;
(B) 13 point (proportionally spaced) Times New Roman, Garamond, CG Times, New Century Schoolbook, or substantially similar serifed, roman text style; or
(C) 12.5 point (proportionally spaced) Arial, Helvetica, Univers, or substantially similar non-serifed text style.
(2) When a typeface other than 12 point Courier is used, the party filing the document must also file a certificate that identifies the typeface and point size used in the document.
(d) Exhibits. Exhibits to motions, petitions and other documents must be clear and legible and must comply with subparagraph (b)(1) of this rule. Exhibits that do not comply with subparagraph (b)(1) must be reduced if necessary and copied onto paper of the required size and quality. Each page of an exhibit must be numbered progressively and marked with the number or letter of the exhibit (e.g., Ex. A, p. 1). Exhibits must be permanently attached to the principal document in a manner that allows them to be easily accessible and readable without detaching them from the principal document.
(e) Information To Be Placed on First Page. The first page of each paper or document must be prepared in conformity with Civil Rule 76(d), except that the name of the law firm or organization with whom an attorney is affiliated and the attorney’s bar number must also be shown. Alternatively, the bar number must be shown on the signature page. In criminal cases, the first page must also include a certificate indicating whether the paper or document contains information that is confidential under AS 12.61.100 through 12.61.150. The administrative director shall specify the form and content of the certificate. If a party requests relief by a specific date in a petition for review, cross-petition for review, original application, or motion, the date by which a decision is needed must also appear on the first page of the document.
I find it amusing that there are state requirements for point size, when really it is the x-height that determines the relative size of type. But I suppose that would be in the super-advanced section! There are typefaces that have condensed to extended bodies, as well as typefaces that have short to long ascenders and descenders. These are also factors that affect our perception of the size of type.
I am a designer interloper on this site, so I will just say you’re doing a great service. Thank you.
Retired RIT typography professor Archie Provan once testified in a NYS court to the accuracy of a document’s point size. My memory of the tale is sketchy but I recall it involved an insurance agency or a utility company faxing a document to someone who then made some mistake and either signed or didn’t sign the contract. Regardless the problem, the contract was deemed invalid because the faxing had reduced the document by a modest percentage thereby shrinking the point size of the fine print below the state minimum. I wish I had more details to provide, but Prof Provan was proud that his knowledge of typography & distinct expertise had saved someone a great deal of hardship.
In the “federal appellate” section, you should point out that Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(6) says, “A brief must be set in a plain, roman style, although italics or boldface may be used for emphasis. Case names must be italicized or underlined.”
I don’t know the limits on “roman style” but perhaps I will find it elsewhere on this site?
“Roman style” means not bold and not italic. Sometimes “roman” is used as a synonym for serif fonts like Times and Garamond.
But given the context of the sentence, and the fact that there is a separate FRAP concerning serif vs. sans serif type (FRAP 32(a)(5)(A)) I conclude that this isn’t what is meant.
So really all this rule says is don’t set your entire brief in bold or italic type. And I agree.
Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure, Rule 32(a)(7): Font and type style. The font of all documents filed in the appellate court must be set in Courier New 13 unless the attorney or unrepresented party certifies at the end of the document filed that access to equipment capable of producing that font is not reasonably available and that the font style used or the handwriting constitutes the closest approximation of Courier New 13 under the circumstances. The type style must be plain, Roman style, although italics or boldface may be used for emphasis. Case names must be italicized or underlined.
Yeah, that’s right: C-O-U-R-I-E-R . . . N-E-W. 13.
Many individual Administrative Judges at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or Merit Systems Protection Board specify font and font size in their acknowledgement and scheduling orders. The most common is Times New Roman 12 point.
Thanks for the link to the Robbins article — but I’m trying to figure out whether Ms. Robbins realizes that “Euroface” is a satire. I kind of think she doesn’t.
Yes, it seems Prof. Robbins may have been pwned.