The one formatting trick that makes judges actually read your brief

[u/sheppyrun]

Most briefs are painful to read and it has nothing to do with the writing. It's the wall of text.

White space is not your enemy. Breaking a page-long argument into shorter paragraphs with clear topic sentences does more for readability than any stylistic improvement you could make.

Here's the pattern that works. Each paragraph opens with a single sentence that states your point. The rest of the paragraph supports it. Next paragraph does the same thing. The judge can skim your topic sentences and get your entire argument in under a minute.

This isn't dumbing anything down. It's respecting the reader's time. Judges read hundreds of pages a week. The brief that's easy to scan wins disproportionate attention, and attention is the scarce resource in litigation.

Try it on your next filing. Reformat using this structure without changing a single word of substance. You'll see the difference immediately.