Conveying Titles Clearly: Thoughts on the Fifth Edition of the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation

Abstract

Among law students and lawyers, few books inspire as much loathing as The Bluebook, yet it remains the standard manual for legal citation. But now, the Bluebook has real competition: The fifth edition of the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation, published by the Association of Legal Writing Directors.

In contrast to The Bluebook, earlier editions of the ALWD Guide attempted to change the rules for legal citation by setting out a single format for both practice and academic settings. The fifth edition has abandoned that effort. The substance of the rules in the two books is now the same, and citations created with the two books should exactly match.

Despite that change, the ALWD Guide is far from superfluous: compared to the The Bluebook, the ALWD Guide is clearer, better organized, easier to read, and easier to use. This book review discusses those differences in detail, and urges readers to consider using the fifth edition of the ALWD Guide in place of the Bluebook.

Keywords: citation, Bluebook