Editor’s Note: Matthew Butterick graciously sent me this book at my request a number of months ago. I had wanted to review it, and was excited to help get the word out about a great addition to the typographic canon. I was unable to devote the time I had wanted to a thorough review, and it is only just now that I felt like I could devote the time and attention to this fine book it deserves.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you have an understanding of an appreciation for just how much I’ve come to rely on Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style. I reference it frequently in my writing, and at least as frequently in designing and laying out pages, whether for print or for web. Admittedly, however, I often pick up the book to remind myself about a rule and often get more than I bargained for. I get lost in its pages and end up doing more reading than referencing.

Enter Matthew Butterick’s Typography for Lawyers. Butterick’s blog is the book’s namesake, but rest assured, this book is for far more than litigators. A quick, thorough guide, this text offers much to typographic novices and experts alike.

The book begins with a litany of sound arguments about why typography matters, and why it should be looked at as crucial to the law profession. But needless to say, nearly all the advice presented herein is equally applicable to writers or any professional services-based small business, not to mention graphic designers, students, and type mavens.

And it can be extremely helpful to have reason on your side in adverse typographic conditions. I can remember vividly a situation on a job in which, when questioned about a decision by a client, I referenced Bringhurst, but had a hard time appealing to her sense of artistic taste; as aesthetics are necessarily subjective, she simply disagreed. In this case, I would have done well to bring Butterick into the argument, so logically sound are his arguments, as you would expect from a professional lawyer.

And this is where Typography for Lawyers really shines. No matter how careful you are about following the rules of beautiful typography, at some point, you will butt heads with a client who simply disagrees with a practice you’ve refined through years of careful study. I won’t say that you must always win such arguments, or even that it’s always necessary to try to convince your clients. But often, clients just want to believe that your detailed choices of color, typeface, leading, and so on are not just arbitrary, but have a firm basis in theory, logic, or both. Butterick will help you refine your reasons for making the aesthetic decisions you do and defending them. In short, this book functions especially well as a reference for typographers and designers with argumentative clients.

For example, Butterick often states a rule, then – amazingly – cites the most often counterarguments and why they don’t hold up. Consider, for example, his treatise on using a single space after periods. Following the statement of his case, he provides a few objections:

Every lawyer I know uses two spaces.
A core principle of this book is that legal documents are governed by the same rules of typography as any professionally typeset book, newspaper, or magazine. If you agree, the fact that lawyers habitually diverge from these rules is irrelevant.

Good arguments can be made for both options.
Except that it’s not a matter of argument. One option has the support of typography authorities and professional practice; one option does not. The issue is not ambiguous.

But the book isn’t all arguments. Another handy motif are the marginalia. These well typeset summaries of the key points in the main text columns provide a steady guide throughout the text, reminding you that, ‘No hyphen is necessary in phrasal adjectives that begin with an adverb ending in -ly,” or “Nonbreaking spaces: Prevent awkward quotes.”

Additionally helpful are the tables and charts throughout that offer reminders of solutions to common typesetting problems (e.g., shortcuts for most every typographic detail from em dash to left curly quote) for Mac and PC, as well as HTML.

Fear not. Typography for Lawyers doesn’t just cover the basics. The book still contains a great deal that will surely appeal to the seasoned but discerning typographer looking to delve deeper into the finer ingredients of that perfect typographic recipe. More advanced considerations of type history in later chapters (such as a thorough recounting of the birth of Times New Roman), alternative suggestions for commonly used fonts, and more advanced page layout considerations (such as options for setting tables) are likely to please even the most advanced designer.

Typography for Lawyers doesn’t aim to be a replacement for The Elements of Typographic Style. It is, however, an excellent supplement, and solid further reading on refining the details of excellent typographic habits. It’s also extremely helpful when friends, family, or clients come to you looking for type advice, as this group is more likely to respond to concrete, well-reasoned advice from Butterick than Bringhurst’s often verbose and poetic prose. In the end, Typography for Lawyers is a solid, contemporary companion to the classics, and deserves a spot beside even the most celebrated texts as a comprehensive work in its own right.

For continued typographic advice, be sure to visit Butterick’s blog at typographyforlawyers.com. He also recently published Equity, a serif workhorse that, like the book, is designed for lawyers, but will surely appeal to a broader typographic audience.

One Comment

1. Zech
   Posted January 17, 2012 at 7:17 pm | Permalink

   Enjoyed this review. More please!