Category Archives: Citations

Style Guide for the United States Supreme Court.

06 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by in Appellate Law, Appellate Writing, Citations, Citations to the Record, Court Rules, Courts, E-Briefs, E-Filing, Federal District Court Rules, Legal Writing, Local Rules, State Appellate Courts, Style Manuals

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The U.S. Supreme Court’s Style Guide, by Louis J. Sirico, Jr., Legal Skills Prof Blog

http://bit.ly/2jnq60t

When I was starting out in my paralegal career, I created cheat sheets for filing motions and briefs in state and federal district courts. The rules, especially for federal circuit court briefs, are complex and require checking multiple sections, local rules, e-filing rules, and your judge’s personal court rules (if any exist). I found these cheat sheets were the most popular handouts at my legal writing courses and paralegal seminars, and included them in the Appendix of Practical Legal Writing for Legal Assistants.

Regardless of where you are in your paralegal career, I recommend creating a similar cheat sheet for yourself. Updating your cheat sheet when the rules change force you to examine every addition or revision. Keeping your cheat sheet current will reinforce the rules in your mind, and will help you stay on top of your game.

When it came to analyzing rules for the U.S. Supreme Court, I passed. I left it to the professionals who format and print these briefs for a living. Now, at last, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Style Guide is available for all. -CCE

Legal Writing Myths

11 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by in Brief Writing, Citations, Editing, Legal Argument, Legal Writing, Persuasive Writing, Plain Language

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Legal-Writing Myths, by the Hon. Gerald Lebovits, Plain English Subcommittee Column, 50 Mich. B.J. (February 2017)©2017

https://researchingparalegal.wordpress.com/?p=4848&preview=true

 

Are longer briefs more persuasive? Is it a legal writing faux pas to start a sentence with “and”? Do judges care if you follow Bluebook citation format? Judge Lebovits has some thoughts on these and other legal writing myths to share, some of which may surprise you. -CCE

Bryan Garner Says Citations In Footnotes are Okey Dokey.

04 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by in Brief Writing, Citations, Footnotes, Legal Writing

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Bryan Garner Says: Put Your Citations in Footnotes, by Rich Cassidy, On Lawyering Blog

http://onlawyering.com/2014/03/bryan-garner-says-put-your-citations-in-footnotes/

After posting on one judge’s opinion of against citations in footnotes, for the sake of balance, here is Bryan Garner’s opinion against putting them anywhere else but footnotes.

When it comes to writing briefs, let the court rules dictate which method you use. If a court or judge goes to the trouble to address such details, there is a reason. Ignore the court’s preference at your own risk! -CCE

[I]n the February 2014 issue of the ABA Journal, and in the corresponding ABA Journal Law News “Bryan Garner on Words” column, “Textual Citations Make Legal Writing Onerous, for Lawyers and Nonlawyers Alike,” Garner promotes a suggestion for writing briefs and memoranda.   . . . The suggestion is simple: Instead of including bibliographical material —  the numerical citation used to find a case or legal authority  — in the text of a  legal document, Garner suggests publishing this material in a footnote.

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Citations In Footnotes? The Debate Rages On.

03 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by in Benchslap, Citations, Footnotes, Judges, Legal Writing

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Benchslap Of The Day: Don’t You Dare Put Citations In The Footnotes, by David aw LobLat, Above The Law Blog

http://abovethelaw.com/2016/08/benchslap-of-the-day-dont-you-dare-put-citations-in-the-footnotes/

In case you’ve missed it, there is controversy in the legal writing world about whether citations belong in the text or in the footnotes. People in both camps feel strongly about this. These people do not see a lot of gray. You are either doing it right or you’re not. I suspect this Judge has similar inclinations. -CCE

Nobody puts baby in the corner. And nobody puts citations in the footnotes — at least not in this federal judge’s court.

Via the Twitter feed of Ross Guberman, a leading expert on legal writing, comes this benchslap from Judge James K. Bredar (D. Md.) . . . .

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Posner Asks What is Obviously Wrong with the Federal Judiciary. Is This A Trick Question?

09 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by in Appellate Judges, Appellate Law, Citations, Federal Judges, Judges, Legal Analysis, Legal Argument, Legal Writing, The Bluebook

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What Is Obviously Wrong With The Federal Judiciary, Yet Eminently Curable, Part I, by Richard Posner, 188 19 GREEN BAG 2D 187 (with hat tip to William P. Statsky) (The Green Bag is Quarterly Legal Journal dedicating to good legal writing, supported in part by the George Mason University School of Law)

http://www.greenbag.org/v19n2/v19n2_articles_posner.pdf

If you’re looking for a good Bluebook bashing, here it is. -CCE

At the level of form, the first thing to do is burn all copies of the Bluebook, in its latest edition 560 pages of rubbish, a terrible time waster for law clerks employed by judges who insist as many do that the citations in their opinions conform to the Bluebook; also for students at the Yale Law School who aspire to be selected for the staff of the Yale Law Journal – they must pass a five-hour exam on the Bluebook. Yet no serious reader pays attention to citation format; all the reader cares about is that the citation enable him or her to find the cited material. Just by reading judicial opinions law students learn how to cite cases, statutes, books, and articles; they don’t need a citation treatise. In the office manual that I give my law clerks only two pages are devoted to citation format. [Footnotes omitted; emphasis added.]

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Westlaw Poses Another Challenge To The Bluebook.

01 Sunday May 2016

Posted by in ALWD, Citations, Legal Writing, Public Domain Citations, Research, The Bluebook, Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act, Westlaw

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Journal of Law: Periodical Laboratory of Legal Scholarship, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 483-486, 2012 , by Ross Davies, George Mason University School of Law; The Green Bag (with hat tip from William P. Statsky)

http://bit.ly/24tJ2uh

Lately The Bluebook has been under siege. It has survived the long ago challenge of the ALWD Citator.  It has a new challenger, Malamud’s public source Indigo Book. Now it faces another quandary. Will it adjust or is it on its way to becoming obsolete? -CCE

 Excerpt from Abstract: 

[W]estlaw and its competitors cannot afford to conform to the Bluebook’s system when it conflicts with the requirements of their databases for, among other things, unique and recognizable abbreviations of the names of publications. And given a choice between following Bluebook form and following Westlaw form, readers and publishers are likely to follow Westlaw because that is where readers are doing more of their reading and publishers’ products are getting read.

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Will The Indigo Book Become The Accepted Legal Citator And Replace The Bluebook?

23 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by in Citations, Legal Writing, The Bluebook

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Update on the Baby Bluebook, by Barco 2.0 : Law Library Reference, University of Pittsburg School of Law (with hat tip to William P. Statsky!)

http://bit.ly/1SqRYJk

Carl Malamud has introduced the Harvard Law Review Association to The Indigo Book, An Open and Compatible Implementation of A Uniform System of Citation.

For years, I have used The Bluebook as my bible for legal citation. During the years I taught Bluebook citations, I saw The Bluebook come out with new editions many, many times. It was frustrating when the new edition changed the rule about whether you used a comma after a signal or some other arbitrary change. Not only frustrating, but hard to explain the reason for the revision to students.

There have been several major events that gave The Bluebook a genuine reasons to come out with a new edition. States, like Oklahoma, adopted a “public domain” citations. The Internet became a legal research tool. Still, there were times it seemed that The Bluebook’s interpretation was unnecessarily complicated.

The ALWD Citation Manual was created to improve legal citation standards. It was also updated periodically when needed. Until now, The Bluebook and the ALWD Citation Manual were the mainstream acceptable go to” sources for legal citation.

The Bluebook began receiving more criticism for its new editions. Were the changes necessary or a way to create more revenue for the publishers? Hard to say for many but not for Carl Malamud. It will be interesting to see how The Indigo Book is received by legal educators and legal professionals. -CCE

Bluebook Wars!

27 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by in Citations, Legal Writing, The Bluebook

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Bluebook War(s), Barco 2.0 : Law Library Reference,  from the Librarians of the Barco Law Library, University of Pittsburgh School of Law (with hat tip to William P. Statsky!)

http://bit.ly/1UwiLtp

The Bluebook, for most legal professionals, is the legal citation Bible. It is required by law schools, law libraries, and multiple state and federal courts as the required guide to legal citation. It has come under attack for its frequent revisions that contain minor changes to citation form.

Since 2009, it has also been under attack for other reasons – those who want to take it away from its current publishers and put it in the public domain. Carl Malamud of Public Resource leads the charge. -CCE

The Origin of the Bluebook – Let’s Get The Record Straight.

13 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by in Citations, Legal Writing, The Bluebook

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Where Did The Bluebook Originate?, by Joe Hodnicki, Law Librarians Blog

http://llb2.com/2015/12/11/where-did-the-bluebook-originate/

Ask most legal professionals where the Bluebook originated and they will likely say ‘Harvard Law School.’ In The Secret History of the Bluebook (Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 100, No. 4, 2016 Forthcoming) [SSRN], Fred R. Shapiro (Yale) and Julie Graves Krishnaswami (Yale) beg to differ. . . .

Following Yale’s lead in what we would call today, the uniform citation movement, Harvard Law School produced its own guide for the Harvard Law Review editorial staff in 1922, ‘Instructions for Editorial Work.’ Many have pointed to the Harvard document as being the precursor to the first edition of the Bluebook which was published in 1926.

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This time around, Shapiro and Krishnaswami set the record straight about where and how this work began. Highly recommended for Bluebookologists and anyone else interested in the adoption and use of standardized citation practices and advances in legal bibliography.

Failure To Follow Court Rules Earned This Fed Up Benchslap.

23 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Appellate Law, Bad Legal Writing, Benchslap, Brief Writing, Citations, Court Rules, Courts, Issues On Appeal, Judges, Legal Writing

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A Lawyer Way Out Of Her League Gets Benchslapped By Frustrated Judge, by Kathryn Rubino, Above The Law Blog

http://tinyurl.com/o9hk847

The case did not seem suspicious. A commercial painter claimed he had not been paid for work hired by a building manager. The lawyer took the painter’s case. Unfortunately, under oath, her client admitted that he had faked his evidence with forged invoices.

No one was surprised when the trial court imposed sanctions. The surprise came when the lawyer appealed the case with a badly written brief. The lawyer only made it worse when she submitted her corrected brief to the Court. The judge’s response is a classic benchslap. -CCE

Legal Citation Honey Pot.

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by in ALWD, Citations, Legal Writing, Public Domain Citations, The Bluebook

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Citations, Zimmerman’s Research Guide©2015, by Andrew Zimmerman

https://law.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmermans/disp.aspx?z=1288

Zimmerman’s Research Guide has been around a long time, and is definitely worthy of a bookmark. Here is a very nice collection of legal citation guides that drills down a bit deeper than most. -CCE

Link Rot – When A Hyperlink Festers and Rots.

24 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by in Citations, Legal Technology, Legal Writing, Link Rot

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Jonathan Zittrain: Fighting ‘Link Rot’ In Court Opinions and Legal Scholarship, by Victor Li, Legal Rebels Blog (with hat tip to Tom Majors!)

http://tinyurl.com/nfrr7gm

Link rot is real. It creates havoc in court opinions that include hyperlinks. Perma.cc, unfortunately, is not the magic bullet for link rot. I have tried using it for links to this blog, only to find later that the link no longer works. Perma.cc is sorry about that, but does not have a real answer for that problem. Use it with caution. -CCE

Sure, it’s annoying when you click on a link and get that ‘404’ message or an automatic redirect to the homepage. But when it comes to legal research, dead links aren’t just annoying; they can undermine the entire premise of an opinion, article or treatise. . . .

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When Peter Martin, aka Bluebook Yoda, Talks About The Bluebook, I Listen.

16 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Abbreviations, Acronyms, Brief Writing, Citations, Initialisms, Legal Writing, Parentheticals, Punctuation, Quotations, Readability, String Citations, The Bluebook

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Bluebook (20th ed.) and Restatements, Model Codes, etc., by Peter Martin, Citing Legally

http://citeblog.access-to-law.com/

Prior to publication of the new Bluebook, law journals, lawyers, and judges were in pretty close agreement on how to cite a Restatement section (e.g., Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46 cmt. j (1965) [as cited in the May 2015 issue of the Harvard Law Review] or Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 349, cmt. a (1981) [as cited in an Aug. 2015 decision of the Seventh Circuit]). Journals put the titles in large and small caps.  Lawyers and judges didn’t. Furthermore, consistent with their treatment of other static material, many lawyers and judges left off the date element. In an era in which briefs are held to a maximum word count, why include the redundant ‘(1965)’ or ‘(1981)’? The Bluebook reflected that consensus. Its prescribed formats for citations to provisions in Uniform Codes, Model Acts, the federal sentencing guidelines, and the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct were consistent with it. See The Bluebook R. 12.9.5 (19th ed. 2010).

Without warning the 20th edition of The Bluebook changed that. . . .

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Have You Bought Your 20th Edition of The Bluebook®?

16 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Abbreviations, Acronyms, Citations, Footnotes, Legal Writing, Legislative History, Numbers, Parentheses, Parentheticals, Punctuation, Quotations, String Citations, The Bluebook

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Personally, I’m waiting for Peter Martin at Cornell to update his excellent Bluebook® Cheat Sheet. But, if you want to know all things Bluebook®, I can recommend this website – https://www.legalbluebook.com/.

This website also provides a way to buy a hard copy, which is my preference when I use it regularly. If you use The Bluebook® at all, I recommend bookmarking and browsing here the entire website and its features. Yearly subscriptions are a reasonable rate.

The good news for Bluebook® users is that, at the beginning of every new edition, there is a list of the differences between this version and the last one. Here is a preview of what is new in the 20th Edition: https://www.legalbluebook.com/Public/Updates.aspx.

Yes, you will wonder about why some of the changes were made. That is a given. But isn’t it nice to have all the changes summarized and listed for you right up front. No guessing and no reason to search the entire book to find the updates. -CCE

 

Why We Need The Bluebook® Even When It Makes Us Nuts.

12 Saturday Sep 2015

Posted by in Citations, Legal Writing, The Bluebook

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The Bluebook® gives us a uniform way to cite to legal authorities. Imagine the breadth of legal writing without a common and reliable citation form to research and locate cases and other sources of law.

Theoretically, each new edition should include citation format to new sources for legal writing, such as the Internet. Unfortunately, every new edition to The Bluebook® does not limit itself to finding new sources of legal opinions and other types of legal writing. Invariably, the editors “tweak” minutiae.

I taught The Bluebook® for many years in legal writing classes and seminars. As the years went by, I began to dread each new edition and the necessary memorization of every new rule that changed already perfectly acceptable and logical citation format. The editors’ propensity to make minor changes to established citation formats made many question the editors’ reasons for their numerous revisions.

Bryan Garner expressed similar issues with The Bluebook®, which he shared in this article from the ABA Journal: “The Bluebook’s 20th edition prompts many musings from Bryan Garner’ at http://tinyurl.com/qbysgbk. Mr. Garner refers to the many minor revisions as ‘nettlesome changes,’ and does an excellent job of explaining why. -CCE

The 20th Edition of the Bluebook Has Arrived. Let’s Party!

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Citations, Legal Writing, The Bluebook

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The New Bluebook is Here!, by Charlotte Law, The Charlotte Law Blog, The Official Blog of the Charlotte School of Law (with hat tip to William P. Statsky!)

http://charlotteschooloflawblog.com/2015/09/01/the-new-bluebook-is-here/

The Twentieth edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (20th ed. 2015) has arrived!

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So What’s New about the Twentieth Edition?

That’s the question everyone wants to know, including me. A detailed answer is in the Preface to the Twentieth Edition on page VII. Cynthia Pittson of Pace Law Library has created a really helpful chart of the changes at http://lawweb.pace.edu/library/bluebook_changes_20th.pdf. The twentieth edition is 50 pages longer than the last edition. . . .

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An Expert’s Guide To Formatting An Appellate Brief.

20 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by in Appellate Law, Appellate Writing, Brief Writing, Citations, Citations to the Record, Court Rules, Courts, Legal Writing, Local Rules, Table of Authorities

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How to Format an Appellate Brief, by Deborah Savadra, Lawyerist Blog

(Deborah Savadra is editor and chief blogger at Legal Office Guru, which offers The WordPerfect Lover’s Guide to Word as well as Microsoft Office video tutorials. You can follow her on Twitter at @legalofficeguru.)

https://lawyerist.com/70334/format-appellate-brief-microsoft-word/

Appellate briefs are not a project for beginners. And, regardless of what you read in this tutorial, you must follow your appellate court rules to the letter.

When your court’s rules tell you that it wants citations done a certain way, it mean exactly that. If the court’s rules say a brief must not go over a certain number of pages, do not even think about “fudging” the rules by changing the font, page size, or line spacing.

You see, all courts, not just appellate ones, write local rules for a reason. Whatever “trick” you may try to skirt around those rules, that court has already seen it and knows it when it sees it again. Courts take their local rules seriously, and so should you.

There are many posts and articles posted on my blog about the strategy and nuances of writing appellate briefs, as well as many excellent books on the subject. This tutorial will help you with the nuts and bolts of writing the bare bones, which is always useful regardless of your writing proficiency.

I also highly recommend Ms. Deborah Savadra’s blog, Legal Office Guru. She does an excellent job. -CCE

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The appellate brief is undoubtedly one of the most complex pleadings, formatting-wise. Formatting requirements vary from court to court, going so far as to dictate the size and font of your type, your margins and your line spacing. (If you’ve ever had to do a U.S. Supreme Court brief, I feel your pain.) Even before you consider the text of your argument, you have to wrap your head around which pages have which style of page numbers, whether you must furnish a table of authorities, and how you have to deal with any appendices or references to the record. . . .

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A New Bluebook Citation Guide.

16 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Citations, Legal Writing, The Bluebook

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FYI – A New User’s Guide To The 20th Edition Of The Bluebook Will Be Released Next Month, by James B. Levy, Legal Skills Prof Blog

http://tinyurl.com/pb8ane3

The new 20th edition of the Bluebook is out now and thus West Academic Press plans to publish next month a new user’s guide to go along with it called Anthon’s The Bluebook Uncovered: A Practical Guide to Mastering Legal Citation. . . .

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Excellent Argument About Technology and Citation Placement.

13 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by in Apple, Brief Writing, Citations, E-Briefs, E-Briefs, E-Filing, Footnotes, iPad, Laptop, Legal Technology, Legal Writing, Mac, Microsoft Office, PC Computers, Readability, Tablets

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If the Judge Will Be Reading My Brief on a Screen, Where Should I Place My Citations? by Peter Martin, Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law, Emeritus, Cornell Law School, Citing Legally Blog

http://citeblog.access-to-law.com/?p=149

 

As pointed out in this article, more courts require e-filing and are using tablets and other technology to read what you file. If you do not use technology, then you do not know how your document appears on the screen. It is quite different than reading something on a printed page.

So what to do? Keep writing as you always have and ignore changes brought about by technology or adjust? -CCE

A. Introduction

In a prior post I explored how the transformation of case law to linked electronic data undercut Brian Garner’s longstanding argument that judges should place their citations in footnotes. As that post promised, I’ll now turn to Garner’s position as it applies to writing that lawyers prepare for judicial readers. . . .

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Where Should Citations Go? Texas Appellate Judges Have An Opinion.

05 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by in Appellate Judges, Appellate Writing, Brief Writing, Citations, Footnotes, Judges, Legal Writing

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The End of the Great Footnote War in Texas? by Rich Phillips, Texas Appellate Watch

http://tinyurl.com/oq8z9va

I have posted before (and here and here) about a debate that confirms that appellate lawyers are the nerds of the legal world: should citations go in footnotes or in the text?. . . .

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Is The Bluebook Protected By Copyright?

31 Sunday May 2015

Posted by in Citations, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Legal Writing, Public Domain, The Bluebook

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Legal Minds Differ On Whether The Bluebook Is Subject To Copyright Protection, by Leslie A. Gordon, ABA Journal

http://tinyurl.com/o228qkc

Controversy is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of The Bluebook, but the bible of legal citation is at the center of an increasingly nasty dispute over whether it is subject to copyright protection.

Open-source advocates are contending that the style and citation manual is an essential piece of legal infrastructure and can’t be preserved as private property under copyright law. The book’s publishers say otherwise. . . .

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The 20th Edition of the Bluebook Has Finally Arrived.

30 Saturday May 2015

Posted by in Citations, Legal Writing, Link Rot, The Bluebook

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The Bluebook!, by Barco 2.0: Law Library Reference, University of Pittsburg (with hat tip to William P. Statsky)

http://tinyurl.com/qgxnokh

The approximate cost for the 20th Edition is around $30. If you buy it online to get the free month of the Bluebook Online, it will cost $38.50:  https://www.legalbluebook.com/Purchase/Products.aspx?op=Book.

You will find the changes made to the 20th Edition at the beginning of the book. Each new edition provides this information to allow you to see up front to show what has been revised and added to the book.

I am glad to see that this Edition of the Bluebook is addressing the problem of link rot by using Perma.cc. I’ve blogged previously about Perma.cc. I used it exclusively on this blog for a time until more than one posts were lost because the link no longer worked. Perma.cc is still the best tool available now to address link rot. Let’s hope that it works out its reliability problems. -CCE

The 20th Edition of The Bluebook is now available. For this edition, when you purchase a printed copy of The Bluebook, you will get a FREE 30 day trial to the Bluebook Online; look for your free trial key on the back of the title page. The Bluebook for iPad, iPhone and iPad Touch are available via the Rulebook app in the App Store. Perma.cc is pleased to see that this Bluebook now recognizes Perma.cc as a reliable tool for preserving internet sources. . . .

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Oh Joy! Oh Rapture! The 20th Edition of The Bluebook Will Be Out Soon!

08 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by in Citations, Legal Writing, The Bluebook

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20th Edition of the Bluebook Expected by this Summer, by Mark E. Woicik, Legal Writing Prof Blog

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legalwriting/2015/03/20th-edition-of-the-bluebook.html

Be still my heart! -CCE

Professor Brian Sites of Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law shared the news that the 20th edition of The Bluebook ‘will be available in the late spring/early summer of 2015.’ Oh, goodie! Click here for more information.

Using Legal Citations to Persuade the Reader.

01 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by in Citations, Legal Analysis, Legal Argument, Legal Writing, String Citations

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The Art of Persuasion Through Legal Citations, by Susan W. Fox and Wendy S. Loquasto, 84 Fla. B. J. 40 (2010).

http://www.floridabar.org/divcom/jn/jnjournal01.nsf/Author/A8B63DC72FCE7882852576F10068ECD6

Persuasive citation of legal authority is an essential part of legal writing. Proper citation involves knowing not only the basic form for citing cases, constitutions, statutes, rules, books, articles, and other legal authority,1 but also requires understanding the purposes and best practices for citing legal authority. The purpose of this article is to help you develop a more persuasive and effective citation style by discussing development of a citation plan, the hierarchy of authority, the role of courts and precedent; the use of pinpoint cites, parentheticals, and signals; and placement of citations.

The primary purposes of citation are support and attribution for the propositions advanced by the author. Proper citation further requires consideration of the source of the applicable law, whether the authority is binding or merely persuasive and the credibility attributable to the author or authority cited. In short, persuading a court to follow precedent, distinguish it, or overrule it — as the case requires to advance your client’s position — is in large part dependent upon credible citations and sound reasoning based upon the citations. . . .

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Formatting for Persuasive Legal Writing Makes A Difference.

28 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by in Citations, Court Rules, Courts, Legal Technology, Legal Writing, Local Rules, Readability, Style Manuals

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Paragraphs and Indentation Formatting for Persuasive Writing, by Collin Walke, Vol. 86 OBJ No. 5 (2014).

http://www.okbar.org/members/BarJournal/archive2015/FebArchive15/OBJ8605Walke.aspx

Contrary to that pesky little voice in your head at this very moment, formatting is not a boring topic and is absolutely critical when writing a legal brief. Aside from the technical rule requirements for formatting briefs, which will be discussed in greater detail below, formatting is essential for persuasion. One of the best legal writers I have ever had the privilege of working with has a paperweight on his desk that reads: ‘Good writing is clear thinking made visible.’ Without good formatting, quality content will be lost in the mire of facts, law and argument.

The point of this article is to outline what good formatting looks like. First, the brief must be written in accordance with the formatting rules of your particular court. A brief for the district court of Oklahoma County will look different from a brief for the Western District of Oklahoma. Second, the format of the brief must be laid out so that it assists the reader in understanding your position. Finally, your format should match the needs of the particular brief. . . .

[Emphasis added.] Continue reading →