Writing for how People read on Screen Douglas Wm. Godfrey Chicago-Kent College of Law
More Legal Text is Read on Screen Courts are requiring e-filing of pleadings Lawyers conduct document review on screen Parties exchange documents via Lawyers communicate with each other electronically 2
Lawyers use various Platforms Kindles Ipads Laptops PCs Smartphones 3
Some Traits of Reading on Screens Read more Slowly Skim More Subject to Distraction Screen rolling is Distracting 4
People read in a Pattern F 1 st – Horizontal sweep across the top 2 nd – Horizontal sweep across the middle 3 rd – Vertical movement – readers take more time with this 5
Data from Eye Tracking Study 6
Advantages of E-reading Embedding material Animations Research easily Manipulate text Move Text Color Graphics Annotate 7
Constraints Court Rules Preservation Security Conservative Audiences But think how material is now presented at Trial PowerPointFlipcharts AnimationsPhotographs 8
Tips about E-writing Headline Message Use Bullet points Employ sans serif fonts Use more White Space No more than 132 characters per line Think about size of font: –12 point – People read faster but less accurately –10 point – People read more slowly but more accurately 9