Category Archives: Parentheticals

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

 

This Is THE Right Way To Cite to Legal Authorities.

13 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Citations, Legal Writing, Parentheticals, Readability, String Citations

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Four Tips on Citing Authority, by Professor Eric Voigt, R+W Legal Consultants

http://rwlegalconsultants.com/four-tips-on-citing-authority/

Although Professor Hazelwood of the University of Kentucky does not resolve the continuing debate between citations in the text or in footnotes, she has drafted a practical article on citing authority. Professor Hazelwood discusses four ways to unclutter your legal writing: (1) don’t string cite numerous cases for the same point; (2) place citations at the end of sentences; (3) include explanatory parentheticals with citations to further explain the relevance of the citations; and (4) avoid unnecessary repetition.

Her article was published by the Kentucky Bar Association in its monthly journal, Bench & Bar. You can read the full article on her SSRN page.

Using Parentheticals As A Legal Writing Tool.

21 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Legal Writing, Parentheticals, Recent Links and Articles, String Citations

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Parentheticals are an excellent legal writing tool, especially in string citations. They can be used to reinforce a legal argument without a lengthy explanation, like this:

“All cases cited by Defendants are very different from this case. In all of them, the danger was plainly visible. See Transport Indemnity Co. v. Page, 406 P.2d 980 (Okla. 1965)(daytime accident); Haworth v. Mosher, 395 F.2d 566 (10th Cir. 1968)(dust storm on highway clearly visible by approaching motorists); Thur v. Dunkley, 474 P.2d 403 (Okla. 1970)(accident occurred during daylight with ample unobstructed vision from either direction).”

When used incorrectly, they frustrate the reader. In this three-part series, Nick Wagoner illustrates the best, and worst, ways to use parentheticals. –CCE

Guest blogger Nick Wagoner on “Common Parenthetical Pitfalls” [Part 1], by James B. Levy, Editor, Legal Skills Prof Blog

http://tinyurl.com/6qdrg8k

Tips For Writing Better Parentheticals – Part 2, by James B. Levy, Editor, Legal Skills Prof Blog

http://tinyurl.com/6rn6plw

More On Writing Good Parentheticals From Our Guest Blogger Nick Wagoner [Part 3], by James B. Levy, Editor, Legal Skills Prof Blog

http://tinyurl.com/8a3aker