Section 7: Changing how we write

As legal professionals, what we write is important. There are lots of things we can do to make our writing more inclusive. Things like typography, sentence structure, font size, line length, and word choice can impact the experience of readers including for example visually impaired people, dyslexic people etc and even those with limited literacy skills.  

Quick wins  

• Write in short sentences. It makes content easier to read.
• Keep paragraphs short and in a similar length. 
• Use a clear ‘sans serif’ font like Calibri.
• Use size 12, 14 or 16 size text. 
• Use an active voice. 
• Use plain English. The average reading age in the UK is nine years old. 
• Increase the number of sub-headings. 
• Ensure white space throughout documents, for example through sentence and paragraph spacing. 
• Avoid italics and all caps if possible.  
• Left-align body text.  
• Lay out numbers numerically and in words (e.g. 6 and six).  
• Limit the use of tables and column.  
• Use graphics and colours sparingly.  
• Don’t underline words unless there is a clickable hyperlink.  
• Use bullet points to break up text.