Pesky Citations

• Publication year: 2000
• Pages: 33
• Citation: Vol. 29 No. 3 Pg. 33

29 Colo.Law. 33 Colorado Lawyer 2000.

2000, March, Pg. 33. Pesky Citations

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33

Vol. 29, No. 3, Pg. 33

The Colorado Lawyer
March 2000
Vol. 29, No. 3 [Page 33]

Departments
The Scrivener: Modern Legal Writing
Pesky Citations
by K. K. DuVivier
C 2000 K.K. DuVivier

Constant citation to legal authorities presents a unique problem for legal writers. Although these authorities are necessary to the analysis, integrating them can interrupt the flow of the writing, or more significantly, can obscure the meaning. Law reviews have chosen to use footnotes to address this problem. But footnotes create their own form of vertical interruption,1 and many courts discourage their use in briefs. This article addresses some of the difficulties created by these pesky citations and suggests some solutions for incorporating them more smoothly

Full Citations in Sentences

The Bluebook requires a full citation the first time you address any legal authority.2 A problem arises, however, if the first time you cite is at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence. Such a citation makes the sentence cumbersome and interrupts the subject and verb flow. A better alternative is to move the citation to the end of the sentence. Another solution is to start with a sentence that introduces the case, so that you can get the full citation out of the way at the end, in a separate citation sentence After giving a full citation, you may then, in the next sentence, reference the case by name only.3

Example: In Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 1107 S.Ct. 2775, 97 L.Ed. 144 (1987), the United States Supreme Court held that the proponent of evidence falling within the co-conspirator hearsay exception need not demonstrate the unavailability of the declarant

Revision: The United States Supreme Court has addressed the co-conspirator hearsay exception. Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 97 L.Ed. 144 (1987). In Bourjaily, the Court held that the proponent of evidence falling within the exception need not demonstrate the unavailability of the declarant.

Two Citations in One Sentence

Citations create additional difficulties when more than one proposition, and thus more than one supporting authority, is addressed in the same sentence. Instead of listing two authorities at the end of the sentence, which might create some ambiguity about which source...