#lang pollen

◊(define-meta title "research memos")
◊hanging-topic[(topic-from-metas metas)]{Bigger margins, smaller point size, tighter line spacing}

The problems that afflict research memos also afflict other long documents like settlement agreements and ◊xref{contracts}. You can adapt this recipe for any of them.

My legal-writing teacher in law school required memos to be formatted using classic typewriter habits — one-inch margins on all sides, 12-point font, double-spaced lines. Because of its genesis in typewritten documents, this format is often the basis of institutional document-layout rules. Many courts, for instance, require filings to be in some variation of this format.

But have you ever seen a book, newspaper, or magazine that uses this layout? No. Why not? Because it’s not optimally legible. So why would anyone use it? Because it suits the severely limited capabilities of the typewriter. So if we don’t use typewriters anymore, why does everyone still use this layout?

My thoughts exactly.

◊before-and-after-pdfs["memo"]