Bluebook 101
Cases
Rule 10
Tables T.1, T.6, T.8
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Law Review vs. Memos
Examples will show styles for:
Law review footnotes (LR)
and
Court documents and legal materials
(Prac)
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Typeface Conventions
• Practitioner style gives you the choice of
underscore or italics. This guide uses italics.
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Washington Courts
• GR 14 requires all pleadings, motions, and
briefs to follow the Washington Reporter of
Decisions Style Sheet.
• It adopts the Bluebook with some exceptions.
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Components
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•
•
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•
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Name
Published source(s)
Court and jurisdiction
Date of decision
Subsequent history
Maybe parenthetical info or prior history
» R.10.1
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Case Names
• Who ever dreamed
they could be so
complicated?
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Italics, Underlining, etc.
• In law review text and text sentences, italicize
case names, but in footnotes don’t.
• In briefs and memos, always italicize or
underline (your choice, just be consistent!).
• For Washington courts, always italicize or
underline case names.
• Examples below italicize.
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Sentences vs. Citations
• In a citation, abbreviate more of the case
name.
»R. 10.2
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Examples
• Under Erie Railroad v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64
(1938), the court must apply Oregon law.
• Erie R.R. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (1938)
(law review footnote)
• Erie R.R. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817,
82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938)
(Washington brief: always italicize name, always give
parallel citations)
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First & Only
• Only give the first party on each side:
Andersen v. King County
not . . .
» R. 10.2.1(a)
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Heather Andersen and Leslie Christian;
Peter Ilgenfritz and David Shull;
•
JANET HELSON and BETTY LUNDQUIST; DAVID SERKIN-POOLE and MICHAEL SERKIN-POOLE; VEGAVAHINI SUBRAMANIAM
and VAIJAYANTHIMALA NAGARAJAN; ELIZABETH REIS and BARBARA STEELE; and MICHELLE ESGUERRA; and BOO TORRES DE
ESGUERRA, Respondents, v. KING COUNTY; RON SIMS, King County Executive; and DEAN LOGAN, King County Director of
Records, Elections and Licensing Services Division, Appellants, STATE OF WASHINGTON, Appellant, SENATOR
VAL STEVENS; REPRESENTATIVE GIGI TALCOTT; COALITION FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND RENEWAL; NUWANDA
ADAMS; TRACEY ARMSTRONG; GERALD BAKER; RICHARD BLAIR; ED COOK; RICK DANNER, SR.; BILL DEMPS; HARVEY DRAKE;
GEORGE FROST; ELVIN GLADNEY; AARON HASKINS; RICK KINGHAM; SAMUEL K. LAW; JIMMIE W. LEE; DAN MAGALEI; DANA
McCLENDON; TONY MORRIS; NATE MULLEN; PAUL OLVER; JOSEPH PHILLIPS; DAVID PIERSON; JOHN PENTON; KENNETH J.
RANSFER, SR.; WILLIE C. SEALS, JR.; PAUL STOOT; WASHINGTON TALAGA; DANIEL VILLA; DAVID WALLACE; THOMAS L.
WESTBROOK; DOUG WHEELER; EARNEST WILLIAMS; REGGIE WITHERSPOON; NATHANIEL WOLF; GRANT ZWEIGLE; and
WASHINGTON EVANGELICALS FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT, Appellants/Intervenors. CELIA CASTLE and BRENDA BAUER;
PAMELA COFFEY and VALERIE TIBBETT; GARY MURELL and MICHAEL GYDE; CHRISTINA GAMACHE and JUDITH FLEISSNER;
KEVIN CHESTNUT and CURTIS CRAWFORD; JEFF KINGSBURY and ALAN FULLER; LAURI CONNER and LEJA WRIGHT; ALLAN
HENDERSON and JOHN BERQUIST; MARGE BALLACK and DIANE LANTZ; TOM DUKE and PHUOC LAM; and KATHY and KARRIE
CUNNINGHAM, Respondents, v. STATE OF WASHINGTON, Appellant.
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Abbreviate
• Common acronyms (e.g., YMCA)
&, Ass’n, Bros., Co., Corp., Inc., Ltd., and No.
• Exception: if it begins party name
• Lots more in citations.
» R. 10.2.1(c)
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Omit
• Party’s job title
– Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, not
– Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense
» R.10.2.1(e)
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Example
• Whitman, Administrator of Environmental Protection
Agency, et al. v. American Trucking Associations, Inc.,
et al.
becomes in text:
• Whitman v. American Trucking Ass’ns
and in citations:
• Whitman v. Am. Trucking Ass’ns
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State Name
• In the state’s own court
– State v. Blakely, 111 Wash. App. 851, . .
• In another court
– Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296
» R10.2.1(f)
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Geographical Terms
• PUD No. 1
– Not PUD No. 1 of Jefferson County
• But include if part of full name of
business or organization; include
“City of”:
– ACLU of Washington v. City of Seattle
» R. 10.2.1(k)
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Omit
• First names
– Miranda v. Arizona
• Unless that’s all there is
– Michael M. v. Superior Court
• Or it’s a company name
– Shelton v. Oscar Mayer Foods Corp.
» R. 10.2.1(g)
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In citations, abbreviate
• Everything in T.6
• States (T.10) unless the state is the whole
party name
– Wash. Dep’t of Ecology
» R. 10.2.2
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Do NOT abbreviate
• “United States” if that’s the party’s whole
name.
–United States v. Microsoft Corp.
» R. 10.2.2
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Reporters
• Parallel
– State v. Blakely, 111 Wash. App.
851, 47 P.3d 149 (2002)
• Regional only
– Hawkins v. McGee, 146 A. 641
(N.H. 1929)
» R. 10.3
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Washington Rules
• Always give parallel citations
• Use Washington abbreviations:
– Wn.2d (not Wash. 2d)
– Wn. App. (not Wash. App.)
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Jurisdiction, Court, Year
• If you can’t tell by the reporter, include in
parentheses
– Hawkins v. McGee, 146 A. 641 (N.H. 1929)
» R. 10.4
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No Superscripts!
• Right: Lara v. Ryan, 455 F.3d 1080 (9th Cir.
2006)
• Wrong: Lara v. Ryan, 455 F.3rd 1080 (9th Cir.
2006)
» R. 6.2(b)
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Parentheticals
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•
•
•
•
(unpublished)
(en banc)
(Sanders, J., dissenting)
(citing Erie R.R. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (1938))
(upholding “Three Strikes” law)
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Prior & Subsequent History
•
•
•
•
, aff’d,
, vacated,
, cert. denied,
, modifying,
» R. 10.7 & T. 8
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Short Form
• Whitman v. Am. Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S.
457 (2000)
• In American Trucking Ass’ns, the Court …
» R. 10.9(a)(i)
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Help & Examples
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Legal & General Writing Resources
Cite-Checking & Library Research
Prince’s Dictionary of Legal Citations
Columbia, Harvard, Penn & Yale
Reference librarians, of course!
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Box 353025
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