In a postscript to one of its opinions issued February 4 (Hilsman v. Phillips, No. 9-1031 / 08-0289), the Iowa Court of Appeals scolded the plaintiffs’ attorney for using too small of a font in her briefs:
Upon reading the plaintiffs’ brief and reply brief, this court’s weary eyes suspected the typeface was a wee bit small. Upon investigation, it was determined the briefs utilized a 12 point Times New Roman typeface, not 13 point as required by Iowa Rule of Appellate Procedure 6.16(1) (2008) when using Times New Roman typeface.
Rule 6.903(1) became effective January 1, 2009 and replaced Rule 6.16. Rule 6.903(1)(e) now mandates that “a proportionally spaced typeface must be 14 point or larger.”
The Court also criticized the plaintiffs’ appeal brief for using one space between sentences instead of what the Court called the “customary two spaces.” Using two spaces is not required by the rules and one space when using a proportionally spaced font is advocated by all typography resources of which I am aware.
Interestingly, new Rule 6.903 also now mandates that “a proportionally spaced typeface must include serifs, but sans-serif type may be used in headings and captions.” The Iowa Court of Appeals has been issuing its opinions in a sans-serif font, Arial, and it issued the Hilsman opinion in that font.
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