How to Cite

As a paralegal or lawyer, you must back up the arguments you make with citations to the relevant law.

Show your Source

You should never make statements without showing your source; any statement about a case or statute must be cited.

When you read a case or a law review article, you see many quotes and citations; the judges and writers of these articles are backing themselves up by quoting the law for their readers.

Are you setting your “cites” on being a lawyer or a paralegal?

If you plan to be a lawyer, when you write a brief to the court, you will be arguing why your client should win and you must support your arguments with cites to the statutes and case law that are relevant to the client’s case.

If you plan to be a paralegal, when you write an interoffice memo for the attorney, you must support everything that you say with cites and quotes to the law, so the attorney will know the sources upon which you based your conclusions.

Quote the Key Provisions and Cite When citing a case to support your argument,

it’s imperative to explain what the court held and quote the key provisions of the case and explain its application to the client’s case.

It is important to cite correctly so that judges and attorneys will be able to locate the cases that you are citing.

Let’s look at a sample citation

Let’s Dissect a Citation! Webster v. Blue Ship Tea Room, 347 Mass. 421, 198 N.E.2d 309 (1964)

Plaintiff Defendant Page Page Versus Volume # Volume # Date Decided

Massachusetts Reports North Eastern Reporter,

Second Series

The above cite is a “parallel citation,” meaning that you can find this case in

two different volumes of reporters (the books that contain court opinions):

Massachusetts Reports (the state official reporter) and North Eastern

Reporter (the unofficial reporter published by West).

Additional Resources on Citing

To see helpful examples of case citations for your state, go to: Case Citation Examples, click on the “Table of Contents” in the upper right corner of your screen, scroll down and click on section 3-210, “Case Citations – Most Common Forms” and scroll through the examples of federal citations down to the sample case citations for each state - this will be a great resource for learning how to cite your state’s case law. This web site provides you with excellent instructions on how to cite according to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, which is the book that sets forth the standards for citations used in the legal profession.

SHOW ME THE LAW!Just as in “Jerry McGuire,” when the pro football player (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) yells to his sports agent, “Show me the Money!”, you want to remember that attorneys and judges will be saying “Show me the Law!” Quote the key language from a case to support your arguments and always cite correctly.

So, be sure to “SHOW ME THE LAW!” by supporting your arguments using the law, NOT with your opinion of the law. Personal opinions DON’T stand up in court. Show me the

Law!