Chapter 47 Nuts 'N' Bolts: Legal-Writing Mechanics

• Jurisdiction: New York

Chapter 47 — Nuts ’n’ Bolts:
Legal-Writing Mechanics

Writing mechanics refers to writing details: numbers, numerals, and figures; typographic symbols; abbreviations; italics and underlining; and capitalizations.

No one right way best tightens legal-writing nuts ’n’ bolts, but different authorities try. Most practitioners, federal judges, law-journal editors, and Moot Court boards use The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.¹¹⁹⁶ New York state judges and court staff use the New York Law Reports Style Manual, commonly called the Tanbook.¹¹⁹⁷ Writers in the humanities and social sciences often use the Chicago Manual of Style.¹¹⁹⁸ Many lawyers rely on an authoritative style manual called The Redbook, by Bryan A. Garner, Black’s Law Dictionary’s Editor in Chief.¹¹⁹⁹ Some law school legal-writing professors teach their students the ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citation.¹²⁰⁰

Sometimes the rules in these sources are consistent with one another. Often they’re not. The Bluebook, for example, has different rules for different documents: Memorandum and brief writing has one set of rules; journal writing, another. The Bluebook’s rules also differ between how sources should appear in the text and how they should appear in footnotes or endnotes. ALWD and the Tanbook make no such distinctions.

Determining the source on which you should rely depends on your audience and document. If you have a choice, choose a source that’ll create a document that’s accessible, comprehensible, and consistent. No matter what you assemble—a bike, a bookcase, a brief—nothing will endure unless all the pieces fit. Making your nuts ’n’ bolts fit just right will assure an accessible, comprehensible, and consistent document.

Numbers, Numerals, and Figures

A number is an abstract mathematical concept. A numeral is a symbol that expresses the abstract mathematical concept. Words denote numerals in ABCs. Example: “Three.” Figures denote numerals in 1, 2, 3s. Example: “123.” Cardinal numbers express quantity or magnitude. Examples: “one,” “two,” “three.” Ordinal numbers express relative positions. Examples: “first,” “second,” “third.”

Conventions vary on whether to spell out numerals.¹²⁰¹ Under the Bluebook and ALWD, spell out zero to ninety-nine and use figures for 100 and above in textual material, footnotes, and endnotes.¹²⁰² Examples: “hundred,” “thousand,” “million.” Under the Tanbook and the Redbook, spell out numerals up to and including nine; use figures for numerals 10 and above.¹²⁰³ According to the Bluebook and the Redbook, you may spell out round numbers larger than ninety-nine if you do so consistently. ¹²⁰⁴

The Legal Writer recommends following the Tanbook and the Redbook. Spelling out numerals gives a document a formal air, but figures are easier to read than letters. Follow the guidelines in your jurisdiction or citation guide. Whichever numbering method you select, always be consistent. The style of the larger numbers in a series controls the style of the smaller numbers.¹²⁰⁵ Bluebook and ALWD example: “The bullets ricocheted 12, 65, and 135 feet from the car.” Tanbook and Redbook example: “The top law students earned 2, 4, and 11 awards, respectively.”

Don’t start a sentence with a figure.¹²⁰⁶ Incorrect: “2009 marks the one-year anniversary of his admission to the New York bar.” Correct: “Two thousand and nine marks the one-year anniversary of his admission to the New York bar.” If you must use a number to start a sentence, spell it out or rewrite the sentence. Example: “1920 is an important date in the battle for women’s rights.” Becomes: “Nineteen-twenty is an important date in the battle for women’s rights.” Or: “In 1920, after the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, women were allowed to vote.”

According to ALWD and the Redbook, insert commas between the third and fourth digits, the sixth and seventh digits, and so on.¹²⁰⁷ Examples: “2,000,”“430,000.” Under the Bluebook, which differs in this regard from other style guides, insert commas in figures that contain only five or more digits.¹²⁰⁸ Correct: “32,457,” “3425.” Incorrect: “3,425.”

Don’t insert commas in figures when the classification system doesn’t use commas. Examples: docket numbers, citations, Internet databases, serial numbers, road numbers, room numbers, social security numbers, telephone numbers, highway numbers, street numbers, military time, and years. ¹²⁰⁹

Use figures if the number includes a decimal point. Example: “Pi equals approximately 3.14159.” Don’t use commas after a decimal point. Incorrect: “1.23,456.” Correct: “1.23456.”

When spelling out numbers, hyphenate two-word numbers below 100. Example: “Joe Smith charges five hundred fifty-five dollars an hour.” Use “and” only when expressing cents.¹²¹⁰ Incorrect: “To be exact, his hourly fee is four hundred and ninety-eight dollars and seventy-five cents.” Correct: “To be exact, his hourly fee is four hundred ninety-eight dollars and seventy-five cents.”

The Tanbook and ALWD recommend spelling out fractions less than one.¹²¹¹ Examples: “three-fourths of the estate,” “two-thirds share,” “one-eighth of the farm.” Under the Tanbook, use figures for fractions greater than one.¹²¹² Example: “He used 1½ (note: no space between 1 and ½) reams of paper to print his brief.” Under ALWD, fractions greater than one may be written using words or figures.¹²¹³ Don’t insert a space between the whole number and the fraction in a figure. Example: “Petitioner seeks to evict respondent from her 3½-bedroom apartment.” Or: “Petitioner seeks to evict respondent from her three and one-half bedroom apartment.”

To ensure accuracy and prevent forgeries, spell out figures when drafting a bank check, contract, or will. Example: “70,000 (seventy thousand) acres.” Otherwise, don’t use both figures and numerals.

Write out constitutional, statutory, and contractual provisions as they appear in the original.

The Bluebook and the Tanbook recommend using figures for calculations. Example: “306 + 821 = 1127.”

Under ALWD and the Redbook, use figures in citations unless the number is part of a title; repeat titles as they’re written in the original.¹²¹⁴ Citation example: “Johnson sued his employer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.” But: “The parties’ relationship was like the one in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You.”

Under the Tanbook and the Redbook, use figures for dollar amounts of any size.¹²¹⁵ Tanbook and Redbook examples: “$1,” “$50,” “$120.” According to the Bluebook and ALWD, you may spell out the phrase or use figures for dollar amounts.¹²¹⁶ Example: “The doctor charged plaintiff $150 an hour for his court appearance.” Or: “The doctor charged plaintiff one hundred fifty dollars an hour for his court appearance.”

When referring to money, put a symbol before the figure or the corresponding word after the amount, but don’t do both. Correct: “$5.” Correct: “five dollars.” Incorrect: “$5 dollars.”

According to the Redbook, always use figures for chapters (Chapter 11); dates (November 14, 2005); sections (§ 1983); statutes (title 9 of the U.S. Code); time (9:30 a.m.); volumes (Volume 33); numbers in name of roads (111 Centre Street); military divisions (M1A1 Platoon); measurement units (98° F.); and decimals (0.2009). ¹²¹⁷

Spell out centuries (“twenty-first century”) and, in text, as opposed to citations, the amendments to the U.S. Constitution (“Twenty-first Amendment”).¹²¹⁸

When precision isn’t required, round off numbers greater than a million and spell out “million,” “billion,” and “trillion.” Example: “The Defendant’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme has been all over the news.”

Don’t use numerical abbreviations like “K” (to represent “thousand”) or “M” (“million”) in legal writing. These colloquial abbreviations create ambiguity.

A plural of a numeral is formed by adding an “s,” not an apostrophe “s.”¹²¹⁹ Example: “Some attorneys educated in the 1970s still use legalese.” Spell out indefinite expressions unless doing so will confuse. Example: “The court reporter is in her twenties.”

When citing a range of pages, according to the Tanbook, give the pages at which the reference begins and ends, separated by an en dash (–) or hyphen (-).¹²²⁰ Example: “(People v Wilson, 93 NY2d 222, 224-225 [1999]).”

There’s no space between the page number and the en dash or hyphen. Under the Bluebook and the Redbook, retain the last two figures when the numeral has three or more figures, but drop other repetitious digits.¹²²¹ Separate the page range with an en dash or hyphen. Thus, pages 230811 means pages 2308 to 2311. ALWD allows either method. ¹²²²

Under the Redbook, don’t elide figures in a range of measurements or a span of years.¹²²³ According to ALWD and the Redbook, don’t elide a range of sections or paragraphs.¹²²⁴ Correct: “15 U.S.C. §§ 2301-2310 (2000).” Incorrect: “15 U.S.C. §§ 2301-10 (2000).” The Bluebook permits eliding sections or paragraphs unless doing so might confuse.¹²²⁵ The Tanbook recommends retaining all figures in a range of measurements and sections or paragraphs. Use figures to write times and dates.¹²²⁶ Examples: “7:00 p.m.,” “11:00 a.m.” But: “four o’clock.” Don’t spell out “th,” “nd,” or “rd” when you write the date in figures, but pronounce them when you speak. Incorrect: “Today is August 30th.” Correct: “Today is August 30.” Don’t repeat in later references a year that’s already been established. Correct: “On April 20, 2004, the child was kidnapped. On April 23, the police found the child and arrested the kidnapper.” Spell out seasons. Examples: “spring,” “summer,” “fall,” “winter.”

A controversy exists about whether to put a comma after a date within a sentence. The comma is optional, but the Legal Writer recommends putting a comma after the year. Example: “On October 6, 2008, the attorneys appeared in court for trial.” Or: “The attorneys appeared in court on October 6, 2008, for trial.” Or (to eliminate the controversy): “The attorneys appeared for trial on October 6, 2008.”

Write “January 30, 1999,” not the...