BLUEBOOKING STANDARDS & COMMON ERRORS
IN PIABA BAR JOURNAL ARTICLES

1. All citations should be in a footnote, not in the text of the article. (This does not mean that sources cannot be referred to by name in the text of the article; however, the legal citation itself should be in a footnote.)

2. Please review Bluebook R.2. The PIABA Bar Journal follows the default formatting listed by the bluebook for law journals, including the use of Ordinary Roman Text, Italicized Text, AND SmallCaps. So, for example:

  • A law journal would be cited as Colin S. Diver, The Optimal Precision of Administrative Rules, 93 Yale. L.J. 65 (1983);
  • A case would be cited as Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45 (1905); and
  • A book would be cited as Richard Kluger, Simple Justice (1976)

3. Please review Bluebook R.10.9. You may only use a short form citation of a case, such as Zimmermann, 165 F.3d 1027, if the full citation is given in that same footnote, or that case has previously been cited within the last 5 footnotes. If not, a full cite is required.

4. Supra can be used to refer to books, reports, periodicals, and regulations. Supra cannot be used to refer to cases or statutes. For a full breakdown on when supra is appropriate for use, see Bluebook Rule 4.2.

5. Please review Bluebook Table 1. This table provides guidelines for the citation of SEC materials. The most commonly cited SEC sources for this journal are:

  • SEC releases, i.e. Customer Limit Orders, Exchange Act Release No. 34,753, [1994-1995 Transfer Binder] Fed. Sec. L. Rep. (CCH) ¶ 85,434 (Sept. 29, 1994); and
  • SEC filings, i.e. Coca-Cola Co., Annual Report (Form 10-K) (Feb. 27, 2004)

6. Body text should be 11 point font; footnote text should be 10 point.

7. Italicizing case names:

  • Case names in a full citation in a footnote are not italicized;
  • Cases referred to in the text of the article are italicized;
  • Case names in short cites are italicized;
  • Case names being discussed in the text of a footnote (such as “in Miley v. Oppenheimer, the Fifth Circuit held that…”) are italicized.

8. Many articles in the PIABA Bar Journal make reference to resources from FINRA, including rules and notices to members. The bluebook does not provide a specific guidance on the proper citation methods for these sources. Please cite to these sources in accordance with Bluebook Rule 14.2(d). Examples:

  • FINRA, Rule 12206 (2011)
  • FINRA, Notice to Members 13-45 (2013)

In either case, you may add a parallel cite to an internet source in accordance to Bluebook Rule 19.2.3, but none is required.