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ALWD Guide to Legal Citation, Eighth Edition

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Authors
  • Carolyn V. Williams
Series / Aspen Coursebook Series
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Book length
720 pages
Publication Date
2026-05-12
Edition
Eighth Edition
Description
Table of contents
Preface

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Peer reviewed by nearly 50 law librarians, legal researchers, and legal writing professors nationwide, the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation, Eighth Edition, models how modern lawyers navigate ethical, strategic, and rhetorical decisions in citing sources. Organizing legal citation into 42 thoroughly cogent and illustrated rules, the Guide is the ideal coursebook, supplement, or stand-alone reference for American legal citation. Building on the Guide’s tradition of clarity and precision, the Eighth Edition introduces a rhetorical, practice-based approach to legal citation to develop students’ evaluative judgment, so essential to making informed, thoughtful choices about how to cite — whether for the NextGen bar exam, AI-enhanced writing, or legal practice. 

New to the Eighth Edition: 

  • A reorganization of the rules, along with additional sidebars, that emphasize the persuasive value of using citations in legal writing 
  • A new rule that explains the difference between acknowledging the use of AI in legal writing and citing to AI, with clear guidance on how to do each without waiving work product privilege or violating ethical obligations 
  • A new rule that sets the stage for successful student learning by addressing: 
    • Why writers cite in legal writing 
    • How ethos, pathos, and logos should shape the citation choices writers make 
    • The expectations of legal readers regarding citation 
    • The various contexts in which legal citations appear 
  • New sub-rules that apply to practitioner documents, such as how to draft tables of authorities for motions and briefs 
  • New sub-rules that describe how to cite to the myriad sources available through various types of technology 

Professors and students will benefit from: 

  • Coverage of online media, such as e-books, listservs, forums, blogs, and social media 
  • Tips and directions for finding local rules 
  • Citing to case reporters, statutes, legislation, and regulations found on e-sources 
  • Academic Formatting icons that note differences in citation style between academic legal writing and professional legal writing 
  • Fast Formats that preview essential citation components 
  • Screenshots from electronic sources and Snapshots of actual pages 
  • Sidebars that explain the “why” of legal citations and how to avoid common errors 
  • Sample citation diagrams that illustrate the essential components of citation construction 
  • Cross-references that highlight connections to content in other rules or in the Appendices 
  • Detailed Appendices that feature abbreviations for use in citations and information not found in other sources, such as: 
    • Peer-reviewed local court citation conventions, websites, and other resources 
    • Additional periodicals with full-title abbreviations so writers do not have to memorize spacing rules to assemble abbreviations themselves 
    • Comprehensive rules for citing federal taxation materials
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Table of contents

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents 
About the Authors 
Preface 
Acknowledgments 
Introduction 


Part 1 Citation as Legal Language 
Rule 1. The Function of Citation in Legal Language 
Rule 2. Citation Placement and Use 
Rule 3. The Function of Signals 
Rule 4. Order of Cited Authorities 
Rule 5. Explanatory Parentheticals, Commentary,
and Treatment 
Rule 6. Including Quotations in Legal Documents 
Rule 7. Indicating Omissions from and Altering
Quotations 
Part 2 Citation Basics 
Rule 8. Typeface for Citations 
Rule 9. Abbreviations 
Rule 10. Spelling and Capitalization 
Rule 11. Numbers in General 
Rule 12. Page Numbers 
Rule 13. Sections and Paragraphs 
Rule 14. Footnotes and Endnotes 
Rule 15. Supplements 
Rule 16. Graphical Material, Appendices, and Other
Subdivisions 
Rule 17. Internal Cross- References 
Rule 18. Full and Short Citation Formats 
Part 3 Citing Traditional Legal Sources 
Rule 19. Cases 
Rule 20. Constitutions 
Rule 21. Statutory Codes and Session Laws 
Rule 22. Legislation and Other Legislative Materials 
Rule 23. Court Rules, Judicial Administrative Orders,
Ethics Opinions, and Jury Instructions 
Rule 24. Ordinances 
Rule 25. Administrative and Executive Materials 
Rule 26. Treaties and International Conventions
and Agreements 
Rule 27. Books, Treaties, and Other Nonperiodic
Materials 
Rule 28. Law Reviews and Other Periodicals 
Rule 29. Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and
American Law Reports 
Rule 30. Restatements, Principles of the Law,
Model Codes, Uniform Laws, and Sentencing
Guidelines 
Rule 31. Looseleaf Services 
Rule 32. Court Documents, Transcripts, and Appellate
Records 
Rule 33. Speeches, Addresses, and Other Oral
Presentations 
Rule 34. Interviews, Letters, and Memoranda 
Rule 35. Videos, Audio Recordings, and Artwork 
Rule 36. Forthcoming, Unpublished, and Archived
Works 
Part 4 Online Sources and Technology 
Rule 37. Online Sources in General 
Rule 38. Internet Sites and Social Media 
Rule 39. Commercial Databases 
Rule 40. Interpersonal Communication Using
Technology 
Rule 41. Tangible Storage Devices and Cloud Storage
Platforms 
Rule 42. Generative Artificial Intelligence 
Part 5 Appendices
Appendix 1. Primary Sources by Jurisdiction 
Appendix 2. Local Court Citation Rules 
Appendix 3. General Abbreviations
Appendix 4. Court Abbreviations
Appendix 5. Periodicals and Looseleaf Services 
Appendix 6. Federal Taxation Materials 
Appendix 7. Federal Administrative Agencies and Publications 
Appendix 8. Cross- References for Law Reviews 


Index 

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Preface
Professor Materials
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Student Materials:
Appendix 2: Local Court Citation Rules Appendix 5: Periodicals and Looseleaf Services
About the authors
Carolyn V. Williams
Associate Professor of Law
University of North Dakota School of Law

Carolyn V. Williams is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota School of Law where she teaches legal writing, research, advocacy, and generative AI courses. She has authored the ALWD Guide since its seventh edition. She co-founded the Legal Writing and Generative AI Convo Group, which now includes more than 500 law professors nationwide who meet monthly to explore issues surrounding AI in legal education. She also founded the Generative AI and Legal Citation Brain Trust to encourage dialogue between law professors, law librarians, and practitioners regarding the purpose and parameters of legal citation and acknowledgment when researching, writing, and brainstorming with AI. The UND School of Law awarded her the 2023–24 Randy H. Lee Faculty Teaching Award and the 2025 Association of American Law Schools Teacher of the Year for UND.

In law school, Carolyn was Editor-in-Chief of the Arizona State Law Journal, and a Teaching Assistant for legal writing courses. As a professor, she became the faculty advisor for the Journal and mentored subsequent EICs. She is now an Article Editor of the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, a faculty-edited law review that has used ALWD Guide citation format since 2000. Carolyn is also a sought-after consultant who frequently teaches continuing legal education courses for those in the larger legal community. She holds positions in each of the national legal writing organizations, including ALWD, the Legal Writing Institute, and the Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research Section of AALS.

Before joining academia, Carolyn spent eight years in big firm practice where she litigated a range of complex commercial and land use matters, including cases involving condemnation, data breach class actions, complex judgment collections, and shareholder disputes at the state and federal levels. Super Lawyers named her a Rising Star in 2016, an honor bestowed on no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in Arizona.
Product Information
Edition
Eighth Edition
Publication date
2026-05-12
Copyright Year
2026
Pages
720
eBook
9798894102740
Print + eBook
9798894102733
Subject
Legal Research , Legal Writing
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