The ALWD Citation Guide: An Introduction
Originally known as Help! A Guide to Legal Citation, the now named ALWD guide to Legal Citation was first published in 1996. It was created by Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD) member professors from law schools across the nation in response to a need for a broader range of citation forms and the limited use of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation in the law school classroom.
The ALWD Guide offers a comprehensive examination of legal citation that serves the academic community, practitioners, students, and legal researchers. Unlike The Bluebook, which is used primarily by lawyers and judges , the ALWD Guide was developed specifically for law students so they can be well-prepared before entering the legal profession.
While many law schools are now using the ALWD Guide, (as opposed to The Bluebook), in their first-year legal writing classes, students are still expected to be familiar with both. And in practice, The Bluebook is the more commonly used citation system.
What ALWD Guide to Legal Citation does
The ALWD Guide is a comprehensive, practical reference on legal citation which provides: It is a strong academic guide that is comprehensive, easy to use and looks at the theory behind legal citation.
Basic Citation Guidelines
The fundamental citation rules set forth in the ALWD Guide are likely already familiar to most law students. The rest of this blog post is for their benefit, but if you’re not a law student or are an attorney who tends to rely instead on Bluebook format, it’s also for your benefit-especially if you have hired one of these law students as a summer associate.
Law students should be concerned with citation format early and often during their tenure at law school:
Rule 1.1. Conformance with Citation System
By adopting ALWD citation guidelines for legal documents even new law students will get into the habit of paying attention to what others have written before them. This is especially true when legal doctrine is in flux, and matters more than ever when you have to defend a judicial statement of law yourself.
Rule 1.2. Compliance Required; Variances Allowed with Justification
It is wise for law students to follow the handbook as written. There are plenty of enforceable reasons for judges to deny motions, grants of summary judgment, and clemency applications; there is no reason to give them one more (like "it didn’t follow the ALWD citation format").
Rule 1.3. Citations in Online Publications
Rule 2.1. Id., Statutes, and Constitutions
Rule 2.2. Case Names
Rule 2.3. Years
Rule 2.4. Names Abbreviations
Rule 2.5. Punctuation
Rule 2.6. Statutes Cited by Year
Rule 2.7. Statute Phrases
Rule 2.8. Electronic Citations
Rule 2.9. State Abbreviations
Rule 2.10. Other Abbreviations
Rule 2.11. Parallel Citations
Good citation format is especially important in trial judges’ opinions, especially those which are disseminated via the Internet, since they are likely to be cited in other judicial opinions, scholarly articles, and blogs. At some point, every law student will have their writings cited in other publications. Their writing may not be perfect, but at least their citations will be.
Citing Opinions
"The perceived need to cite in a uniform, workmanlike manner has never been more pressing. In fact, ignoring the fact that such a need exists is wholly unprofessional."
Edward J. Larson, The Failure of Modern American Citation, 91 Mich. L. R. 186 2d 1, 50 (1993).
Citing judicial opinions in ALWD (Association of Legal Writing Directors) format requires use of a "Signal," "Case Name," "Court Name," "Date" and "Pinpoint" reference. The "Signal" is the first phrase of the citation and lets the reader know whether a case supports, detracts or is neutral to your position. Common signals include:
A "Case Name" consists of the names of the parties as taken from the report. A case name may be cited in either italicized or underlined form. There is some disagreement between various legal citation guides regarding the proper use of italics and underlining. For instance, ALWD allows the use of either italics or underlined case names to cite to a court case. The Bluebook mandates the use of underlined case names. Either is acceptable for the examiner.
"Court Name" refers to the full name of the court. Generally, the name of the court should be spelled out on first reference, except for well-known courts like the Supreme Court. The court name should also include the territorial designation. For instance, if the court is the United States Supreme Court, it should be spelled out in full as the Supreme Court of the United States. However, the "of" should be omitted.
"Date" refers to the day, month and/or year the decision was issued. Depending on the form of the citation, the date may may be placed after the court name, the reporter information, or the page number. In ALWD format, the date follows the case name and ABA preference is to place the date following the court name. For example: Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
"Pinpoint" appears after the page number. A pinpoint reference is the page on which cited material appears in a legal opinion. Short quotes from the court’s opinion accompanied by a citation serve as a "pinpoint" to your discussion. Pinpoint citations indicate to the reader where the information you are giving comes from. Pinpoint citations should be in parentheses, preceded by the word "at" and followed by a comma or period.
Here are some common examples:
Monsanto v. Geerston Seed Farms, 561 U.S. 139 (2010).
Reed Elsevier, Inc., v. Muchnick, 559 U.S. 154 (2010).
ETC Plastics, Inc., v. State’s Attorney, 405 Md. 6 (2008).
Northbrook Excess & Surplus Ins. Co. v. Backstreet of Georgetown, 389 Md. 673 (2005).
Eccleston v. Shannon & Luchs Company, 379 Md. 535 (2004).
Phillips Crab House, Inc. v. State of Maryland, 144 Md. App. 496 (2002).
Kaczorowski v. Engineering Management Consultants, Inc., 314 Md. 301 (1989).
State v. Byers, 264 Md. 131 (1972).
Smith v. State, 240 Md. 303 (1965).
Gordon on Maryland Procedure, Fourth Edition, 4.8-4.10, (2) – (5).
How ALWD Differs From Bluebook
A key difference between the ALWD Guide and the Bluebook is that the latter has a much longer history and is better known that the former. The ALWD Guide to Legal Citation was first published in 1991 while the Bluebook was first printed in 1926. But the ALWD Guide is closely related to the Bluebook with the ALWD Guide relying on the Bluebook and many of the footnote signals accordingly. However, the Bluebook has been used and accepted by many courts for a much longer period of time.
Another basic difference is that the ALWD Guide tends to focus more on practice than theory. The Bluebook tends to rely on a more theoretical, academic approach. For example, the further reading bibliography of the ALWD Guide provides a direct path on how to find and read the cases noted but the bibliography section of the Bluebook does not. The ALWD Guide also contains clear examples of many types of citations whereas the Bluebook provides more general examples of different citations.
In addition, the ALWD Guide also provides some nuance to some of the examples. For example, the citation of a case after it has been reversed by another court in a later opinion is exemplified with some level of precision. The ALWD Guide tends to be more comprehensive and less prone to errors in less than obvious situations.
One other major area of difference is that the Bluebook has a heavy appellate court emphasis while the ALWD Guide has a significant trial court emphasis. For example, the ALWD Guide covers the citation formats of documents originating from a trial court level while the Bluebook devotes more of its content to appellate documents and procedures.
Expert Citation Practices
The ALWD Guide provides guidance on advanced citation techniques that may not be typically covered in other style guides. For example, the ALWD Guide provides guidance on how to cite electronic sources. The ALWD Guide emphasizes that you should cite to an electronic source the same way as you would for a print source, but that the quick reference in the ALWD Guide includes a few different options in case the citation you want is not available. In addition, the quick reference for the ALWD Guide also provides a citation to a print source, with the note "Also print this." This means print out the page or pages that correspond to the citation; for example, if you are citing a PDF that is 25 pages long and the relevant section is only on pages 3-5, then you should print those pages. The ALWD Guide provides guidance on how to cite to a non-PDF electronic media such as a website that does not provide PDFs. For such sources, you will need to use the "Citing from Books" instructions for electronic versions of print sources. The ALWD Guide provides a template and examples to help you complete the citation; it is important to note that the citation is to the electronic source and not the print source. As always, check Citing to identify the best citation.
Another advanced citation technique that is covered in detail in the ALWD Guide is how to cite to unpublished opinions . Again, as with electronic sources, the ALWD Guide recommends citing to the print source if available, but gives an example and recommendation if the print option does not exist. Note that the rule for citing from the Westlaw or Lexis databases is different from the plain Cite form rules; the plain Cite form uses only the court and date, and provides a short neutral citation in addition to the database citation. For Westlaw, the reference is just to the database; for Lexis the reference is to the database and the All-Feds reporter. The ALWD Guide includes a few lists as quick reference aids; the list "Guidelines for Citing Discretionary Court Opinions" quickly identifies the database to cite to. The ALWD Guide provides the standard for citing an unpublished federal bankruptcy case, but for my district (New Jersey) the rule is different because we have a local rule that requires that all parties efile all opinions decided at the bankruptcy court level, so they become available on Pacer. Under those circumstances, it makes sense to cite the opinions directly to the electronic source. As with other pages, there are several guidelines for how to format your citation for unpublished sources; consult the table "Guidelines for Citing to Unpublished Legal Sources."
The ALWD Guide also provides a number of other advanced citation techniques, including a guide for citing family law cases, citing from books, citing historical sources, and citing international materials.
Pitfalls and Solutions
Common mistakes befall even the most experienced legal writers. Here are some typical pitfalls and strategies for avoiding them:
Overusing contractions
Nothing sounds worse in a brief than "won’t" or "can’t" instead of "will not" or "cannot." Not only is the word too informal, but, as with any other contraction in the brief, it can often be expanded ostentatiously, as in Won’t Kentucky Destroy the Constitution?
Inadvertently plagiarizing
The ALWD Guide was carefully crafted to avoid inadvertently appropriating the work of others. To avoid plagiarism, give the source author credit for the ideas and language. Make clear in your own mind which ideas you are conveying and which ones you are borrowing. Then probably check with the source if you didn’t negotiate specific authority to use the material.
Not seeing the forest for the trees
Not every ALWD rule applies to a given entry. Sometimes you will find yourself engrossed in the specifications about a book, author, court, or statute. You must stop when you realize that the desired information can be found elsewhere in the citation.
Getting stuck in legalese
The Guide may appear overwhelming at first, but break it down and you will find it is not as bad as you think. For instance, I was surprised when I finished writing the citations because I thought there would be hardly anything to cite. This was because I was worried about what I was going to cite and how I was going to cite it, rather than focusing on my research. When I did finally focus on my research, I realized that I had more than enough articles to cover my brief.
Focusing too much on technicalities
Like most technical rules, the legal citation rules can be sometimes unnecessarily strict. Therefore be prepared to make the occasional leap of logic in your citations, or make an unexcused break with established citation patterns.
Not getting it right the first time
Most legal citation mistakes can be avoided with some forethought. Although the Guide has hundreds of variations to extinguish the most unreasonable concerns, legal research experts still recommend creating a checklist for the most common situations you encounter.
Not checking regularly
Nothing is more frustrating than missing a citation because you could not find anything wrong with your citation given the information you had. I had this problem with a very long citation; I could not be sure what I was missing. Therefore I broke the citation down into smaller components and began to call and email its authors.
Clinging to older rules
Some years are not as well documented as others, some courts are imprecise, and some authors are not so clean. Please admit this and let go of old rules, unless the ALWD is really author unknown.
Using it only for one section of research or one type of citations
ALWD Guide (2017) can help solve a wide variety of citation issues. If in doubt about anything, check this book.
Real World Application
Always ensure that your ALWD Guide citations are accurate; otherwise, you will mislead the reader to think there is authority or information on a particular issue that does not exist. When applying the rules for citing legal authorities, remember to use a short cite form. Doing so saves you unnecessary space in briefs and documents. An over reliance on the ALWD Guide in some instances can be counterproductive to your writing. While it is a great tool for learning and mastering your legal writing and research skills, make sure you are not trying to dictate every piece of information you want to convey with each citation (i.e., including "appeal denied" and the appellate court name, comma, abbreviation, and year of being denied). Doing so can take away from the legal issue that you are trying to persuade the court of, and distract from the law and legal authorities you are relying on to bolster your argument .
Legal writing is always about understanding the purpose of using a cited authority: support, distinction, or analogy-making. The rules within the ALWD Guide, when not integrated into your writing process, can also become a distraction to your writing. You must learn the purpose and value of each rule in the ALWD Guide, and then choose the appropriate rule to accomplish the purpose of that particular cited authority.
Also, keep in mind that "the purpose of any nonexempt system of citation is to promote accuracy, authority, and authenticity." If a citation choice within the ALWD Guide does not promote those three values, you should change it to fit your purposes. In fact, make sure to check your final document before it is submitted to verify that those values are being promoted in your cited authorities.