

Some of the default Heading Styles use colored fonts-also not right for legal writing. For example, the default Normal Style (for body text) uses Calibri, a sans serif font that’s probably not right for most legal documents. You’ll need to change Word’s default Styles. Schorr, The Lawyer’s Guide to Microsoft Word (2015) Yes, there’s a learning curve, but you’ll save time and reduce frustration if you master Styles.

If you spend a lot of time creating Word documents, I encourage you to learn more about Styles. On a PC, you can find Styles in a large section at the Home tab.

Styles allow you to set font, line spacing, paragraph spacing, automatic tabbing, and other features and then apply those pre-set formats to any document. There are existing Styles for body text (Normal) and headings (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.), and you can create other types for block quotations, bullet lists, and more. Styles in Microsoft Word are pre-set formats you can apply to parts of your document. My books: Legal Writing Nerd: Be One, Plain Legal Writing: Do It.
