A publication of the Association of Legal Writing Directors

Guide to Legal Citation

The ALWD Guide to Legal Citation explains legal citation formats for all types of legal documents in a clear, pedagogically sound manner. The Guide’s plain language, numerous examples, and clear, integrated structure to explaining the legal system of citation for legal materials is easy for students, professors, practitioners, and judges to understand and use. It was written and vetted by legal writing professors who have decades of experience teaching the citation format. One of the Guide’s fundamental goals is to be a restatement of the rules of citation to make citation easier to teach, easier to learn, and easier to do. To that end, it has three distinguishing features:

  • The citations that result from using the Guide are identical to legal citations advanced in other legal citation manuals, but the Guide is written with teaching and learning in mind.
  • The Guide seamlessly integrates the citation rules used in practice-based documents with those used in academic footnotes.
  • In addition to clear explanations, the Guide provides abundant illustrations and examples of proper citation formats for the many types of source materials cited in legal documents.

Purchase the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation, and join the thousands of law students and practitioners who have chosen to take the “sigh” out of citation!