Thursday, November 11, 2010

Legal Style Guides

In addition to The Bluebook: a Uniform System of Citation, 19th edition (Call #KF245 .B58) and the ALWD Ctation Manual: a Professional System of Citation, 4th edition (Call # KF245 .A45 2010), law students writing seminar papers, journal notes, or memos for a legal writing course can use other Brooklyn Law School Library resources to answer style and grammar questions.

The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (Call #Z253 .U69 2003), one of the leading reference books on style, grammar and publication in the US, is available in print at the reference desk. BLS Library also has a subscription to the online version available to BLS students and faculty.


The Redbook: A Manual of Legal Style by Bryan A. Garner (Call #KF250 .G375 2006) is on reserve at the Circulation Desk along with Just Writing: Grammar, Punctuation, and Style for the Legal Writer by Anne Enquist (Call #KF250 .E57 2009. Both of these style guides provide grammar and style advice specific to legal publications.

For an online overview, CALI has two punctuation and grammar lessons. Punctuation and Grammar Basics for Law Students covers fragments and run-on sentences, commas, semi-colons, verb agreement and misplaced modifiers. Punctuation and Grammar: Advanced covers colons, hyphens and dashes, passive voice, parallelism, and misplaced modifiers. See also Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (online ed. 2010) by Peter W. Martin which reflects changes appearing in the third edition of the ALWD Citation Manual, published in 2006 and the edition of The Bluebook published in 2005.

Those writing in international law can consult the LibGuide Developing a Paper Topic: International & Comparative which Reference Librarian Jean Davis created. It has a “Source-checking Guides” a tab that cites the Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citation, 2d ed., produced by N.Y.U. Journal of International Law and Politics (Call #K 89 .G85 2009) and the International Citation Manual published by the Washington University Global Studies Law Review with a link to guide sections for specific countries.

New York practicitioners will want to consult the Official New York Law Reports Style Manual (2007), once popularly known as the "Tanbook", prepared by the Law Reporting Bureau of the State of New York. The editors of St. John's Law Review publish New York Rules of Citation (5th ed. 2005) which applies the Bluebook rules to New York examples.

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