If I had a dollar for each time I’ve read or heard a well-intentioned person say, “Lawyers (or law students) need to learn how to use Styles and templates when writing their legal briefs . . .”

And, yet, for all of those who encourage, “You should,” I’ve never seen someone also point to a resource that walks a legal writer through the process and shows them “how” to set things up and make it happen.

I realized it was time to grab the Microsoft Word Styles and formatting bull by the horns and create that how-to guide for the legal writer. Something that can help both trial court writers and those who author appellate briefs. Something that maybe even brief-reading and opinion-writing jurists would value!

It was time to defang the sometimes-persnickety TOA, TOC, headings, footnotes, bullets, lists, fonts, paragraphs, hyperlinks, defaults, and other relevant Style settings. Time to point out and show how to correct other hidden settings that can gum things up and drive us bonkers when the filing deadline is near.

It was time to curate Word Style Settings for the Brief Writer: A Mapping Guide.

And today . . . Well, today, it’s time to share! It’s free and you can download it. But if you find it a value-add to your work, I won’t mind if you buy me a coffee.