My favorite lawyer in America, Joe Saveri, recently came to me with a problem—a defendant in one of his cases sought an order that his firm was spacing lines incorrectly.
How so? The local rules of the Western District of Tennessee call for double-spaced lines, and Joe’s firm—consistent with the advice in Typography for Lawyers—had been spacing their lines at 24 points. The defendants, however, claimed this practice violated the local rule, which ought to be measured by Microsoft Word’s “double” line-spacing option, which inserts more space.
Joe, I said, my Schaedler Precision Rule is my Mjolnir. You are worthy. Let’s do some justice.
The motion, the opposition, the two declarations (including mine), and six exhibits are consolidated here. Skip to the last page if you just want to know who won. (Spoiler: math)