Judge-Friendly Briefs in the Electronic Age

The way judges read legal briefs is changing because everything is going digital. To make sure their arguments are understood, lawyers need to make their briefs easy to read and follow. This article talks about how lawyers can change the way they write their briefs so that they are easier to read on a computer or tablet screen. This is important because judges are starting to read most of their briefs on screens instead of on paper. The article gives tips on how lawyers can make their briefs more readable for screen readers without making them worse for judges who still read on paper. In Florida, attorneys have to file and serve briefs and other documents in the courts electronically. Judges read most documents on a computer or tablet. It’s important to make sure documents are easy to read on a screen because people read differently on electronic devices. Electronic media allows for distractions and multitasking, so it’s harder to focus. Reading on a screen makes it harder to concentrate and understand the material. People read slower and tend to skim instead of reading in-depth. Judges have even stricter standards for reading and need the material to be clear and to the point. When writing legal briefs for judges to read on screens, it’s important to keep the writing simple and easy to understand. Use short paragraphs, clear headings, and a strong summary of the argument. This will make it easier for judges to read and make decisions. Judges prefer PDFs that are made directly from electronic documents, like Microsoft Word. These PDFs are easier to search and annotate. Scanned PDFs are harder to read and can’t be searched unless they go through a process called optical character recognition (OCR). It’s better to convert documents to PDF before filing them, to make sure they look right. It’s best to avoid using footnotes in legal briefs because they can be hard to read on tablets. Instead, use tools like hyperlinked tables of contents and bookmarks to help judges navigate the document easily. This way, they can quickly find the information they need. Bookmarks in a PDF are like shortcuts to different parts of the document. In a legal document, we need to create bookmarks for all the sections listed in the table of contents, including the subheadings. In some courts, we also need to create bookmarks for the appendix and label them a certain way. If there are subparts in a section, we should organize them in a hierarchy when creating bookmarks. This helps people navigate the document more easily. When writing a legal brief, it’s helpful to include hyperlinks to other documents and sources of law on the internet. This makes it easier for judges to check the information and saves them time. You can create these hyperlinks manually or use special software. When you finish writing the brief, you should convert it to a PDF format to preserve the hyperlinks. Make sure to test the PDF to make sure the hyperlinks still work. If they don’t, you may need to adjust the settings when converting the document to a PDF. In order to make sure that judges can easily read and navigate your legal documents, you can control how a PDF appears when it’s opened. For example, you can have the bookmarks panel open automatically on the left side of the PDF, so judges can easily find their way around. You can also make the document open in full-screen mode and adjust the magnification settings. This is important because judges read a lot of briefs, and you don’t want them to be distracted by technical errors or difficult formatting. It’s important to make sure your briefs are not only easy to read, but also easy to use. This is especially important now that more and more legal documents are being read on screens. This document talks about how electronic filing of court records is becoming more common in Florida. It also discusses how reading on a screen is different from reading on paper, and how this can affect the way people process information. Some studies show that people tend to skim more when reading on a screen, and that it can be harder to stay focused. It also mentions that some courts in Florida have specific rules and orders for electronic filing of records. This excerpt is about how to write legal documents in a digital world. It talks about the principles of web design, using electronic signatures, and converting documents to PDF. It also mentions a guide for creating PDFs and a brief for an iPad judge. This passage includes information about how lawyers can use hyperlinks in their legal documents, like briefs, to make it easier for judges to navigate. It also mentions specific instructions and resources for creating hyperlinks in Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat. It was written by a lawyer who practices appellate law and is submitted on behalf of the Appellate Practice Section of the Florida Bar.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/judge-friendly-briefs-in-the-electronic-age/