Appendix A FOR REFERENCE: CITATIONFORM AND PUNCTUATION INFORMATION

A.1 Putting Citations in Their Place A.1.1 When to Cite A.1.2 When Not to Cite

A.2 Common Case Citation Formats A.2.1 Long Form A.2.2 Short Form A.2.3 Citing Nonmajority Opinions

A.3 Changing Sentence Structure to Accommodate Citation Form A.4 Statutory Citations A.5 Common Punctuation Problems

A.5.1 Apostrophe Problems a.

A.5.2 Semicolon Use A.5.3 Common Comma Problems

Because even lawyers still make grammatical and citation form mistakes, this appendix provides basic information about these pesky problems. Review it now, and keep it handy when you are polishing your final draft.

A.1

PUTTINGCITATIONS INTHEIRPLACE

Sections A.1 to A.4 address four basic concerns about citations: (1) when to cite and not to cite, (2) requirements for and common mistakes in long-form and short-form citations, (3) how to adjust sentence structure to accommodate citation form, and (4) statutory citations.

A.1.1

WHEN TOCITE

There are four common occasions that call for a citation:

(1) When you are either quoting or paraphrasing language from another source, you must cite the source of the language. (2) When you first state a legal proposition, you must cite to authority for that proposition. This rule applies even when the legal proposition could be part of a lawyer’s general knowledge. In a formal document, all legal propositions must be supported by a citation to authority, preferably authority from the controlling jurisdiction. (3) The first time you tell the reader about an authority — whether by quoting language from it, by paraphrasing a summary of it, or by referring to it generally — you must cite to that authority in full. (4) Each time you tell the reader — through a quote or a paraphrase —what a court held, found, reasoned, decided, or stated, you must cite to the page to which you refer.

A.1.2

WHENNOT TOCITE

Naturally, there are many times when you need not cite to an authority. There are two occasions, however, that present dilemmas to many legal writers. (1) It is appropriate to omit some or all citations to authority within the summary of the argument, within point headings, and within a question presented, even though these items might include legal propositions. Consult Chapter Nine (and local practice) for more guidance on these matters. (2) When you are comparing the facts of your case to the facts of an authority case that you have already introduced and explained within the same general discussion, you usually don’t need to cite to the authority again. Citations are also omitted when you refer to a common law rule that you’ve already cited, e.g., ‘‘Thus, the rule in McGuffin should apply in this case.’’

A.2

COMMONCASECITATIONFORMATS

A.2.1

LONGFORM

The guidelines below are based on both ALWD and Bluebook citation rules, although they do not cite to particular rules.¹ They explain common mistakes and discuss which elements are most significant to readers and users of legal documents.

The typical long-form case citation includes five elements: (1) The case name. For most cases, the name of the case consists of one name on each side of the ‘‘v.’’ Do not use a party’s first name (unless it is part of a corporate party name, e.g., “Amanda Lamb, Inc.’’) and do not use more than one name, even if there are multiple plaintiffs and defendants. To use abbreviations precisely, consult the appropriate rules; in general, never abbreviate the first word in a party name, and never use et al. in a citation. Case names should be underlined or italicized. Some writers mistakenly underline or italicize an entire citation, whether to a case or a statute, because they have seen entire citations underlined in hypertext on a Web site or another online resource. Statutory citations are never italicized or underlined; in cases, only the case name (e.g., ‘‘Smith v.

GOOD EXAMPLES

Zahm v. Corn, 101 U.S. 101, 105 (2020). Ohio v. Chavez, 101 N.E.2d 122, 128 (Ohio 2020). Puccinelli v. Hagen, 101 F. Supp. 2d 122, 128 (N.D. Ohio 2020).

A.2.2

SHORTFORM

The most basic guideline is that you should omit the date and court information. Otherwise, use of short form depends on context. If you are citing again to the last-cited and last-mentioned authority, you may use the id. form. ‘‘Id.’’ replaces the name of the case, the volume of the reporter, and the abbreviation of the reporter. Thus, if you cited again to the case of Zahm v. Corn, you could use the following short form if you were citing to a different page in the opinion:

Id. at 107.

If you were citing to the same page, you would use ‘‘Id.’’ alone. If you are citing to an already-cited opinion, but (a) you have cited to or mentioned another authority in the meantime, or (b) there is any doubt that the reader will know to which authority you are referring, use a short form that identifies the name of the case.

Chavez, 101 N.E.2d at 125. Ohio v. Chavez, 101 N.E.2d at 125.

Note that it is never appropriate to use supra when citing cases in a brief, nor is it appropriate to use a case name cite without including reporter information. Thus, the two examples below are both wrong:

BAD EXAMPLES Puccinelli, supra, at 126. Sanders at 135.

A.2.3 CITING TOLANGUAGE FROMCONCURRING, DISSENTING, OR

PLURALITYOPINIONS

Unless your citation indicates otherwise, the reader will presume that you are citing to language from a majority opinion. Thus, when you cite to language from a plurality opinion, a concurrence, a dissent, etc., you must indicate as much in a parenthetical after the citation. Use this parenthetical even if you have mentioned the type of opinion cited in your text; it’s also true for both long-form and short-form citations. Thus, the following citations are all correct:

Zahm v. Corn, 101 U.S. 101, 125 (2020) (plurality opinion). Id. at 155 (Williams, J., dissenting). Sanders, 101 N.E.2d at 135 (Moyer, C.J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

A.3

CHANGINGSENTENCESTRUCTURE TOACCOMMODATE CITATIONFORM

Many writers instinctively begin sentences with a citation: In McGuffin v. Consolidated Ice Cream Board, 44 N.E.2d 33, 39 (Ind. 1981), the court found that ice cream is a ‘‘traditional dessert’’ within the meaning of the Mousse Statute.

This sentence is hard to read because the citation takes up a lot of space within the sentence. In addition, this structure puts too much emphasis on the citation and not enough emphasis on the substance of the sentence. To solve this problem, some writers would separate the case name from the rest of the citation:

BAD EXAMPLE In McGuffin v.

This technique creates another problem because separating the case name from the rest of a long-form citation can confuse the reader. If a reader sees the name alone, the reader may presume that the writer is using a short form and wonder why he or she does not recognize the case name; the reader may even take a moment and try to recall the case. Upon reaching the end of the sentence, the reader would see ‘‘full citation’’ information and then realize that this was the first citation. Because suspense is the enemy of good legal writing, I recommend against this structure. There is a way to write a readable sentence and still use correct citation form:

GOOD EXAMPLE Ice cream is a traditional ‘‘dessert’’ within the meaning of the Mousse Statute. McGuffin v. Consolidated Ice Cream Bd., 44 N.E.2d 33, 39 (Ind. 1981). This sentence emphasizes the rule itself. If you wanted to emphasize the court that decided the case, you could write the sentence this way: GOOD EXAMPLE The Indiana Supreme Court has held that ice cream is a ‘‘traditional dessert’’ within the meaning of the Mousse Statute. McGuffin v. Consolidated Ice Cream Bd., 44 N.E.2d 33, 39 (Ind. 1981).

Thus, write the sentence in a way that lets you put the citation in a separate sentence at the end. Ideally, you should look at all of your citations to make sure that as few as possible are within textual sentences. Of course, if the material in the first half of a sentence comes from one source, and the second half comes from a different source (or no source), you might mislead your reader if you put a citation at the end of the sentence. In that situation, you might choose to revise so that each sentence contains information from only one source.

Your sentence structure will change depending on what you want to emphasize, but you rarely want to emphasize the citation itself. At least three of the four previous sample sentences are technically correct, but they each emphasize something different. Notice also that in two of the examples above, the word Board is spelled out, while in the other two examples, the word is abbreviated. Citation rules usually instruct legal writers to spell out case names that appear in textual sentences (with a few exceptions), but allow them to abbreviate case names that appear in citation sentences (also with a few exceptions).

Of course, if you have already cited to a case and wish to refer to it again, it is appropriate to use the case name only, as in the following example:

GOOD EXAMPLE

Ice cream is a ‘‘traditional dessert’’ within the meaning of the Mousse Statute. McGuffin v. Consolidated Ice Cream Bd., 44 N.E.2d 33, 39 (Ind. 1981). In McGuffin, the court examined the ingredient lists for the plaintiff’s product before finding that it was a traditional dessert. 44 N.E.2d at 39.

Opening the second sentence with ‘‘In McGuffin’’ provides an effective transition. Because the case name is in the sentence, a ‘‘just the numbers’’ short form is permissible.

A.4

STATUTORYCITATIONS

The first thing to remember when citing statutory citations is to consult the appropriate charts in ALWD or another citation guide. Look up the jurisdiction that you are citing to and check the recommended method. Note that although some citation guides illustrate statutory citations using large and small capitals, they generally advise writers to use this convention mostly in law review articles, not in briefs. Thus, presume that you should use ordinary roman type, without underlining or italics, for statutory citations.

The second thing to remember about statutory citations is that you must include a date for the statute, and that the date required may vary by court rule. Traditionally, the date required was the date on the book and/or pocket part (supplement) that the language appeared in. The goal of the date requirement is to make sure that readers know which version of the statute the writer was consulting when writing the document. Citation rules are evolving because most people are reading statutes not in books, but online, and in most cases, they are citing to the most current version of the code.

If you are citing to a hard-copy book, you must note the name of the publisher and date of publication. If the language is in a pocket part or other supplement, you indicate that fact with the abbreviation “Supp.” in the date parenthetical. Thus, a correct citation to a statute (from the fictional state of Vanita) that appears in a bound volume dated 2012 would be as follows:

Van. Stat. tit. 19, § 222.22 (Publisher Supp. 2012).² If the entire statute appeared in the pocket part (or at least the entirety of what the writer referenced), the citation would be as follows: Van. Stat. tit. 29, § 122.22(h) (Publisher Supp. 2017).

Note that although your instincts may be to provide the date of enactment or amendment, that information is not required. You may decide to add this information, however, if you think it is relevant to your analysis:

Van. Stat. tit. 19, § 222.22 (Publisher Supp. 2017) (effective May 27, 1987).

If your citation guide allows citation to a database, you may need to look to the website’s currency information to provide the needed date information for the parenthetical.

EXAMPLE N.J. Stat. Ann. § 24:6I-7 (West, Westlaw current with laws effective through L.2017, J.R. No. 1. (2013)).

The date of the statute—and its currency—may be particularly important if the language has changed recently, or if the applicability of the statute is in doubt due to the timing of the incident at issue as it relates to the statute’s enactment or amendment. As a practical matter, when timing is not in controversy, many long-form statutory citations contain only the database name and the year in which the writer consulted the database, while others contain no date at all:

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 408.500(1) (Westlaw 2017) W. Va. Code Ann. § 11-21-12(c)(6) (LexisNexis 2017) 215 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann. 5/392 (LexisNexis 2015) 42 U.S.C. § 1983

Thus, if the date is significant to your argument, make sure the reader can tell what version of the statute you were looking at. Otherwise, you are probably fine citing the current year. The last thing to remember about citing statutes is that you can use a short form to refer to statutes. The statute cited in the first example above could be cited later in the discussion by title and section number, as in ‘‘tit. 19, § 222.22,’’ or simply by section number, as in ‘‘§ 222.22.’’ Note that you should never start a sentence with an abbreviation or a symbol. If you wish to open the sentence with a short-form reference to a statute, spell out the first word, e.g., ‘‘Title 19, § 222.22, provides...’’ or ‘‘Section 222.22 provides....’’

Note that not every statutory compilation online contains a ‘‘current through’’ date. Some note only a reference to the last legislative enactment. In that situation, you might consult a resource of the legislature to determine the date of that enactment, or consult an alternative resource (that has a date) for the statutory enactment.

A.5

COMMONPUNCTUATIONPROBLEMS

Unfortunately, many legal writers still have problems with basic punctuation; perhaps even more unfortunately, others will judge the competence of these writers based on punctuation mistakes. This section addresses some of the most common punctuation problems and gives commonsense advice on how to avoid them.

A.5.1

APOSTROPHEPROBLEMS

Many apostrophe problems are caused by mixing homonyms (words with different meanings that sound alike), while others are caused by a misunderstanding of the rules of possessives. This section addresses each in turn.

a. Common Homonym Problems

Many writers confuse their, theirs, and they’re, while others confuse its and it’s or your, yours, and you’re. Making one of these errors is a sure way to irritate your reader and give an impression of carelessness. It’s worth the time to study these explanations and make sure you understand the differences.

Their, Theirs, and They’re Use their to modify a noun that belongs to more than one person or entity. GOOD EXAMPLE This animal is their dog. Use theirs to stand alone as a possessive pronoun when the noun possessed is in another part of the sentence or is in a previous sentence. GOOD EXAMPLE Have you met the Rosmarins? This dog is theirs. Theirs never takes an apostrophe. They’re is a contraction meaning ‘‘they are.’’ GOOD EXAMPLE They’re happy to admit that this animal is their dog. The fleas are also theirs. It’s and Its It’s is a contraction of ‘‘it is’’ and, less often, of ‘‘it has.’’ GOOD EXAMPLES It’s time to go. It’s been a long day. Its is the possessive form of the pronoun it. GOOD EXAMPLE The company formed its board of directors within one week of incorporation.

Note : The it’s/its rule may be easier to remember if you don’t apply logic. Just remember that someone made the arbitrary rule that the possessive of it does not take an apostrophe. Perhaps an easier rule to remember is that the only time it does take an apostrophe is when the word is used as a contraction. Because contractions are rare in formal legal writing, you should avoid using it’s.

To find and correct it’s/its problems, use your Search feature to search the word it’s and then its and check them both against this handy reference (or any grammar reference). Your, Yours, and You’re A your/yours mistake is particularly grating to fussy readers. Use your to modify a noun belonging to you. GOOD EXAMPLE This animal is your dog. Use yours to stand alone as a possessive pronoun when the noun possessed is in another part of the sentence or is in a previous sentence. GOOD EXAMPLE This animal is yours. Yours never takes an apostrophe. You’re is a contraction meaning ‘‘you are.’’ GOOD EXAMPLE You’re sure that this animal is your dog? Well, then, the fleas are also yours. b. Rules of Possessives Making a Singular Noun Possessive

If you wish to make a singular noun possessive, add an apostrophe and then an s. Typically, the word following the possessive noun will be the thing that belongs to the noun; on rare occasions, the thing belonging to the noun will be implied.

GOOD EXAMPLES

This mansion belongs to Amanda (no possessive noun, so apostrophe not needed). This mansion is Amanda’s home (possessive form needed; ‘‘owned’’ noun in sentence). This mansion is Amanda’s (possessive needed; ‘‘owned’’ noun implied).

Although there is some controversy on this point, most formal writers (including the New York Times) add an [apostrophe] s to make a singular noun possessive, even when the singular noun already ends in s.

GOOD EXAMPLES

This house belongs to Mr. Burns. This is Mr. Burns’s house. This house is Mr. Burns’s. The delay in the vote was Congress’s fault. The delay in the vote can be blamed on Congress. The fault was Congress’s.

Adding [apostrophe] s when making any singular noun possessive is preferable because most people pronounce the added s without any problem. Furthermore, as a practical matter, one rule is easier to remember than two.

Making a Plural Noun Possessive About this point there is no controversy. When you are making a plural noun possessive, and that plural noun already ends in s, add an apostrophe without an s.

GOOD EXAMPLES

This house belongs to the Dukes. This is the Dukes’ house. This house is the Dukes’.

If the plural noun does not end in s (e.g., children), add [apostrophe] s.

GOOD EXAMPLES

These toys belong to the children. These are the children’s toys. These toys are the children’s.

A.5.2

SEMICOLONUSE

Effective use of semicolons separates sophisticated writers from unsophisticated ones; it’s worth taking a little time to learn to use them properly. Here are a few basic semicolon rules:

1. Use a semicolon to separate independent clauses³ not joined by a coordinating conjunction.⁴For example: GOOD EXAMPLE Mr. Sanders refused to transfer to the production room; the salary of production room workers is $5,000 per year less than Mr. Sanders’s current salary.

Writers often use semicolons to imply a relationship between the points made in each of the two independent clauses. In the previous example, the writer is implying a cause and effect relationship between the salary of production room workers and the reason that Mr. Sanders refused the transfer to the production room.

2. Use a semicolon when two independent clauses are joined with a conjunctive adverb.⁵ GOOD EXAMPLE The salary of production room workers is $5,000 less per year than that of copy editors; therefore, Mr. Sanders refused an opportunity to transfer to the production room.

Note : Do not assume that every conjunctive adverb separates two independent clauses and therefore needs a semicolon; instead, realize that conjunctive adverbs can also appear in many other sentence structures.

3. Always use semicolons to separate items in a series if one or more of the items has internal commas. For example: GOOD EXAMPLE The plaintiff has owned residences at 5 Main Street, Quechee, Vermont; 4560 Hickory Street, Mishawaka, Indiana; and 303 Jackson Street, Columbus, Ohio.

You may use a couple of different techniques to search for semicolon problems. If you use too many semicolons, use the Find feature on your computer to search for and scrutinize your semicolons. If you use commas where semicolons belong, first, train your reader’s ‘‘ear’’ by reading about and doing exercises on semicolon use. Second, scrutinize your longer sentences and your lists.

A.5.3

COMMONCOMMAPROBLEMS

Although the simple little comma arrives on the punctuation scene with the baggage of many rules, only three of the most common problems are addressed here. Two rules concern when you should have a comma, and the other rule concerns where you should not have a comma.

1. Use commas between items in a series of more than two items. Make sure to put a comma before the conjunction, as in ‘‘tall, dark, and handsome.’’ This comma is known as the “Oxford comma.”

Some informal writers swear that you should eliminate the comma after the second-tothe-last item in a series (in our example, after dark), but this advice is bad for legal writing. On many occasions, a will, a contract, or a statute had to be litigated because of a missing comma. Thus, in legal writing, make sure to include the comma before the conjunction.

BAD EXAMPLE Mr. Campos is tall, dark and handsome. GOOD EXAMPLE Mr. Campos is tall, dark, and handsome. alt=00038.jpg>BAD EXAMPLE Ms. Gomez researched the law, wrote the motion and filed the motion. GOOD EXAMPLE Ms. Gomez researched the law, wrote the motion, and filed the motion.

2. Place a comma before a coordinating conjunction separating two independent clauses. The most common coordinating conjunctions are and and or. When a coordinating conjunction creates a compound noun or verb, there is only one independent clause, and no comma is necessary.

GOOD EXAMPLES Mr. Campos is tall and handsome. Teri laughed all the way to the bank and then made a large deposit. However, if the two parts of the sentence are independent clauses, they should be separated with a comma. GOOD EXAMPLES Mr. Campos is tall, and he is handsome, too. Teri laughed all the way to the bank, and then she made a deposit.

For most people, the hard part about using this comma properly is correctly identifying an independent clause. Usually, you can identify an independent clause by looking for an independent subject and a verb, as long as the clause is not introduced by a subordinating conjunction. In the sentence ‘Teri laughed all the way to the bank and then made a deposit,’’ there is a verb (made) after the and, but there is no separate subject — the subject from the first, independent, clause carries over into the second, dependent, clause. However, in the sentence ‘Teri laughed all the way to the bank, and then she made a deposit,’’ you find a separate subject (she) for the verb (made) in the second clause, which means that it is an independent clause. Although this rule is not foolproof, it can help you separate the dependent clauses from the independent clauses.

3. Unless a clause intervenes, do not put a comma between a subject and a verb. BAD EXAMPLE The infamous rule against perpetuities, is hard to understand. GOOD EXAMPLES The infamous rule against perpetuities is hard to understand. The infamous rule against perpetuities, which is the bane of many lawyers, is hard to understand.

This appendix is by no means comprehensive. If you have problems that are not covered here, you may wish to consult Anne Enquist & Laurel Currie Oates, Just Writing (4th ed., Aspen 2013), or Mary Barnard Ray & Jill J. Ramsfield, Legal Writing: Getting It Right and Getting It Written (5th ed., West 2010).

¹ For complete ALWD guidelines, consult Association of Legal Writing Directors & Coleen M. Barger, ALWD Guide to Legal Citation (6th ed., Wolters Kluwer 2017). For complete Bluebook guidelines, consult The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th ed., Harv. L. Rev. Assn. 2010). You should be aware that more states are now requiring public domain citations in certain documents.

² Note that the supplements to the United States Code are numbered; thus, you might have a cite like this: 29 U.S.C. § 122 (2009 & Supp. II 2017). ³An independent clause is a clause that can stand on its own as a sentence. ⁴The seven coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or, for, nor, yet, and so. ⁵ The most common conjunctive adverbs are accordingly, also, besides, consequently, furthermore, hence, however, indeed, instead, likewise, meanwhile, moreover, nevertheless, still, then, therefore, and thus. For more information, see Anne Enquist & Laurel Currie Oates, Just Writing § 8.1.6(c) (4th ed., Aspen 2013).