Law firm letterhead: what a partner’s letter should look like
The parts of a good law firm letterhead, where the mark sits, what goes in the footer and why the continuation sheet matters as much as the first page.
The letter is the firm
A client may never visit your office. They will read your letters, often more than once, often with someone else at the kitchen table. The paper they hold is the firm as far as they are concerned. Good law firm letterhead is calm and generous with white space, carries one mark, and leaves the words of the letter to do the talking.
Where the mark goes
Illustrative scene made from a real Fable design; not a photograph of a delivered order.
Centre the mark at the head for a traditional practice, or set it top left beside the firm’s name for a modern one. Keep it small: a seal of about two centimetres is enough on A4 or US letter. Hale & Whitmore’s blue and gold seal sits above the name with a single rule beneath, and the page below is left entirely for the letter.
What belongs on the page
The firm’s name, the address, a telephone number and an email or website. Most jurisdictions also expect regulatory details, such as the authority that regulates the firm or a registration number, and these belong in a small footer line rather than crowding the head. Check your own professional rules for what must appear; the design should simply make room for it.
The continuation sheet
Illustrative scene made from a real Fable design; not a photograph of a delivered order.
Long letters and opinions run to a second page. A continuation sheet carries the mark small, without the full address, so page two looks like part of the same letter rather than a photocopy. Engagement letters, contracts and invoices then follow the same type and colours, and the whole matter file looks like it came from one hand.
Paper, ink and printing
Print on a heavy, slightly warm white paper. A cool bright white looks like copier stock. One ink colour plus black is plenty; gold reads best as a printed colour on the mark rather than across the page. If you print in the office, keep the head simple enough that a laser printer reproduces it cleanly.
Make it in an afternoon
Fable draws a monogram or seal for your firm, free to preview. With the Business pack you keep it with commercial use in writing and brand files, and a stationery collection where you write your own words: letterhead, continuation sheet, business cards, engagement letters, contracts and invoices, as print-ready PDF and PNG with an editable Word letterhead. Print at home or send the files to your printer. Fable designs are decorative emblems, not grants of arms.