5 Tips for writing good electronic briefs

1. Put Citations In The Body And Use Hyperlinks; In your electronic brief, you should keep your citations in the body. In fact, you should try to eliminate footnotes altogether.

While you are at it, you should also hyperlink your citations, so that the judge (or her clerk) can immediately jump to the authority you are citing. 

2. Use Shorter Paragraphs and More Lists

It is much easier to consume information in small chunks. It is important to break up those long, dense paragraphs into smaller bites. So go through your brief and look for ways to split longer paragraphs into shorter ones. You do not want the judge to have to scroll from the beginning of a paragraph to the end.

Similarly, find places where you are using a list (in substance) and turn it into an actual list (in form). Dismissal is appropriate where (1) the abuses are the result of bad faith and are accompanied by a clear record of “contumacious conduct”; (2) the abuses are attributable to the client and not just to the attorneys; (3) the abuses substantially prejudice the opposing party; and (4) a less drastic sanction would not provide an adequate deterrent. Moore v. CITGO Refining and Chemicals Co., L.P., 735 F.3d 309, 315–316 (5th Cir. 2013).

For your e-brief, do it like this:

Dismissal is appropriate where:

(1) the abuses are the result of bad faith and are accompanied by a clear record of “contumacious conduct”;

(2) the abuses are attributable to the client and not just to the attorneys;

(3) the abuses substantially prejudice the opposing party; and

(4) a less drastic sanction would not provide an adequate deterrent.

Moore v. CITGO Refining and Chemicals Co., L.P., 735 F.3d 309, 315–316 (5th Cir. 2013).

That is way easier to read on a tablet. In fact, it is easier to read in hard copy, too. The trick is to make sure you are dealing with word-count limits and not page limits—because these kinds of changes won’t add words, but they will definitely add pages.

3. Pay Attention to Typography

You are a professional writer, so your writing should be professional — not just substantively and grammatically, but also visually. For starters, the font you are using mattersYou should also consider using a bigger font for easier reading on a small tablet screen. Use 14-point instead of 12-point font, for example. Some courts have actually increased their font-size requirements for this reason. Maybe go even bigger — to 15- or 16-point font — depending on the font you choose. Ideally the judge should not have to zoom in to read your brief comfortably, but do not make the font so big that it looks clownish.Also, think about other typographical choices. For example, most courts require you to double-space your briefs. That is too much space and a bit awkward for a tablet, but one way to minimize the awkwardness is to set your line-spacing to exactly two times the font size, instead of using the default “double-space” setting. That is, if you are using a 14-point font, set your lines at 28-point spacing. This will typically put less space between the line, and you will still be conforming to the double-space rule.

4. Use Charts, Tables, Photos, and Other Visuals

We have all grown accustomed to consuming information online — where much of that information is delivered visually. Charts, explanatory maps, and infographics all take advantage of the medium.

If you have a word-count limit instead of a page limit — or if you are not at risk of going over your page limit — you should consider using visual aids where appropriate to make the brief-reading experience as easy and appealing as possible. 

One of my favorite things to do, in a complicated case, is to provide some kind of visual road map that will help the court understand what needs to be decided and how those decisions should be made — particularly where the court must make one decision before it can move on to making another.

Visuals are especially great in e-briefs because it is another way to break up blocks of text on a little screen, and to make the brief-reading experience resemble how we consume information online. Creating visual aids like this can take a little more time and work, but it is worth it.

5. Try It Before You File It

Before you file your e-brief, be sure you actually open it up on a tablet to see how it looks. You always have a chance to look over your hard copy brief before you drop it in the mail, but it is easy to electronically file a brief you have converted to PDF without ever looking at it as a PDF

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