Bluebooking and Legal Citation

• B10- basic format for cases in court documents.
• R10- detailed format for cases in academic writing.
• T1- preferred reporter and court abbreviation for each court.
• B2 & R2- rules for underlining and italicizing case names. 

Caution by kaneiderdaniel/ CC BY SA 3.0

Do not rely solely on this page to Bluebook.

Please keep in mind:

1. Your professor or court system may have special rules.
2. Rules or situations may have changed since this page was last updated.
3. We may be wrong! 

Double check with your professor, outside guides, and the Bluebook rules themselves.

If you notice a mistake, please contact library.reference@lls.edu

Basic Format

Formatting Tips

• In academic writing, the case name is in normal type in footnotes and italicized in text. In court documents, the case name is underlined or italicized.
• Everything else is in normal type in both academic writing and court documents

In sentences, follow the rules in R10.2.1. In citations, follow the rules in R10.2.1 plus the rules in R10.2.2, T6, and T10. 

Unfortunately, there's no simple trick to memorizing all the rules but over time you'll get a feel for what looks right. If you're feeling overwhelmed, start with B10.1.1, which summarizes the rules that come up most often. 

Occasionally, students are thrown off by unusual case name formats. Most case names use the basic format Smith v. Smith but some cases use the format In re Smith (commonly used in juvenile court), In re Estate of Smith (commonly used in inheritance cases), and In re Three Pink Cadillacs (commonly used in litigation over property.) If the case name shown at the top of the screen uses the In re format, you do not need to "correct" it to Smith v. Smith.

Cases are published in "reporters": large multivolume sets of books that publish cases by date. Usually, each court's cases are published in one or more competing reporters. Table T1 identifies which reporter to cite to (the "preferred reporter") with the phrase "Cite to [reporter abbreviation], if therein." The major preferred reporters are:

• For federal cases: U.S., F., and F. Supp.
• For California state cases: P. and Cal. Rptr.
• For other state cases: P., A., N.E., N.W., S.E., So., S.W., and N.Y.S.

Do not use spaces between single capitals (e.g. U.S.) or single capitals and ordinals (e.g. F.3d) but do use spaces between any abbreviation containing more than one letter (e.g. F. Supp. 2d) (R6.1(a).)

For most courts, the reporter the Bluebook tells you to cite is part of West's National Reporter System, an unofficial set of reporters that covers all federal and state courts. However, courts and professors often tell you to cite to the official reporter instead. For example, Table T1 tells you to cite California state court cases to West's unofficial Cal. Rptr. or P. reporters, such as:  

People v. Foranyic, 74 Cal. Rptr. 2d 804, 806 (Ct. App. 1988)

However, Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1113(c) and some professors tell you to cite California state court cases to Lexis' official Cal., Cal. App., and Cal. App. Supp. reporters, such as: 

People v. Foranyic, 64 Cal. App. 4th 186, 189 (1988)

Some courts and professors require you to provide "parallel citations" to multiple reporters. B10.1.3 provides a suggested format for parallel citations:

People v. Foranyic, 64 Cal. App. 4th 186, 189, 74 Cal. Rptr. 2d 804, 806 (1988)

BT2 provides a list of court rules that require you to cite the official reporter or provide parallel citations.

B10.1.3 tells you to indicate the deciding court unless it is unambiguously conveyed by the reporter title. When providing parallel citations, omit the court if any of the reporter titles conveys the court. As with reporters, do not use spaces between single capitals but do use spaces between any abbreviation containing more than one letter (e.g. C.D. Cal.) (R6.1(a).)

For example:

Meritor Sav. Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57 (1986) (U.S. publishes only U.S. Supreme Court cases. No court is needed.)

Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc., 296 F.3d 894, 908 (9th Cir. 2002) (F. publishes federal Court of Appeals cases from across the country and some older district court cases. Use 9th Cir. to indicate that this case was decided by the Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal.)

No Doubt v. Activision Publ'g, Inc., 702 F. Supp. 2d 1139 (C.D. Cal. 2010) (F. Supp. publishes federal district court cases from across the country. Use C.D. Cal. to indicate that this case was decided by the Central District of California.)

Chaudhary v. Gen. Motors Corp., 649 P.2d 224 (Cal. 1982) (The unofficial P. reporter publishes cases from multiple states and multiple court levels. Use the Cal. abbreviation to indicate that this case was decided by the California Supreme Court. For California Court of Appeals cases, use Cal. Ct. App.)

Chaudhary v. Gen. Motors Corp., 32 Cal. 3d 112, 649 P.2d 224 (1982) (The official Cal. reporter publishes only California Supreme Court cases. No court is needed.)

People v. Foranyic, 74 Cal. Rptr. 2d 804 (Ct. App. 1988) (The unofficial Cal. Rptr. publishes cases from California courts of all levels. Indicating the state is unnecessary, but use the Ct. App. abbreviation to indicate the court level.)

People v. Foranyic, 64 Cal. App. 4th 186 (1988) (The official Cal. App. reporter publishes only California Court of Appeals cases. No court is needed.)

Indicating the court allows you to see at a glance if a case is mandatory (such as a case from the U.S. Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, California Supreme Court, or any California Court of Appeal) or persuasive (such as a federal Court of Appeal case from another circuit or a trial court case.)