Within the brief itself, the practical advocate exploits physical positions of emphasis.
Your words will have more impact if you place them in certain physical locations within the brief. Scientists called psycholinguists have learned that readers pay more attention to certain physical positions in a document.
Any time there is extra white space in a document — at the beginning or ending of a paragraph, for example, or more importantly, at the beginning or ending of a document element such as a point heading section, a statement of the case, or a summary of the argument — readers subconsciously pay more attention.13 Just as Scrabble players angle to put certain letters or words in certain positions on the game board, you should angle to put your strongest arguments and statements in certain positions in your brief.A reader’s attention peaks to varying degrees when reading all titles and headings, as well as when reading the first and last paragraphs in document segments (e.g., the statement of the case, the argument), the first and last paragraphs in point heading sections, and even the first and last sentences in paragraphs. To a lesser degree, information at the beginning or ending of a sentence is also in a position of emphasis,14as is a short sentence, particularly when it is placed within a group of longer sentences. Finally, within a sentence itself, the reader pays more attention to the information expressed in the subject-verb combination, with particular emphasis on the verb.15
Positions of deemphasis are positions that are away from white space and away from the natural breaks that the reader takes while reading. In other words, “middles”: the middle of a point heading section, a paragraph, a document. A series of long sentences slows down comprehension by making the reader work harder to assemble the information in the sentences. Within a sentence, moving information from a verb to a noun, or using passive voice to remove an actor (that is, the person or thing that “verbed”), also deemphasizes information.
Thus, to make your brief more persuasive, focus your attention. Decide (a) what information you want to emphasize and (b) what information you want to deemphasize. Exploit the positions of emphasis by making sure that you fill them with the information that is most important to the case and/or the reader. Lessen the impact of negative information by placing it in positions of deemphasis. The various positions of emphasis present many opportunities for persuasion in your brief.