Friday, March 11, 2005

Stuff to tell the new guy

Memo: from Steve Minor

Since you are new, you should know some of the fine points about word processing and legal writing in which I believe wholeheartedly -

1. Never underline anything, ever. Underlining is for typewriters. Use italics.

2. Don't put double spaces after periods. If you do, I will take them all out.

3. Always use curly quotes. The stuff you paste from Westlaw won't have curly quotes. Use Command-H and replace them all, it takes a second.

4. Always use only 14 point type. If it's good enough for Judge Jones, the Fourth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court, it's good enough for me. No court in America is getting mad because the type is too big.

5. Every paragraph must have 3, 4, or 5 sentences - not 2 and not 6.

6. Nobody else I know gives a donkey's butt about items 1-5.

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