The Access Phrase can be used in an Access key, in your word processing document, to cite an authority, and have LegalCitation generate the citations with pinpoint cites automatically.
LegalCitation will automatically generate an Access Phrase for you, usually consisting of a portion of the author (or title, for works without authors, such as cases, statutes, etc.) for the source work, and the date.
You can edit the contents of this field to make the contents of the Access Phrase identify the source work more clearly.
See the LegalCitation Tutorial for more information on using the Short List View to locate records, and Generating Citations.
Keywords should be entered in the Keyword field, separated with a semicolon:
Keywords are not ordinarily included in formatted citations. To generate citations for the records in
your database that includes the keywords with LegalCitation, open a blank document in your word
processor, run the Generate Bibliography feature, and set the
style to Citations with Keywords.
See the LegalCitation Tutorial for information on browsing,
searching, sorting, and selecting subsets of records containing specific keywords with
LegalCitation software.
The Access Phrase can be used in an Access key, in your word processing document, to cite an authority, and have LegalCitation generate the citations with pinpoint cites automatically.
LegalCitation will automatically generate an Access Phrase for you, usually consisting of a portion of the author (or title, for works without authors, such as cases, statutes, etc.) for the source work, and the date.
You can edit the contents of this field to make the contents of the Access Phrase identify the source work more clearly.
See the LegalCitation Tutorial for more information on using the Short List View to locate records, and Generating Citations.
Case, Reporter forms and field definitions
(Form): Case, Reporter
When minimal additional information, such as descriptive information regarding the weight of the decision, descriptive information about the opinion, or an explanatory note summarizing the relevance of the decision to your research, use the Legal: Case, Reporter form. This form includes all the basic components, plus several additional fields.
Case, Reporter forms and field definitions
(Form): Case, Reporter (Extended)
When subsequent or prior history must be included as well, or information on the original “named” reporter in which the case was published, use the Legal: Case, Reporter (extended). The form includes all the fields for cases published in bound.
Case, Reporter forms and field definitions
(Form): Case, Reporter (Int'l)
Use this form for entering information on cases published in Canadian, English, and Australian law reports in which volumes are organized by year.
Case, Reporter forms field definitions
Case name
Case names identify the parties to a case. In most instances, the case name is
an abbreviation derived from the caption on the first page of the published case
in the reporter. Rules governing the formation of case names are covered in
your style guide, and summarized in the Case name formatting notes section of legalcitation.net.
The case name is the initial component of a formatted citation for a case.
Reichhold Chems., Inc., 91 F.T.C. 246 (1978).
For Bluebook law review style, the case name is presented in roman type. For court documents, the case name is presented as underscored or italics. For ALWD style, case names are presented
in italics.
If you are using LegalCitation software, case names should be entered in the Case field, without print attributes. When the case is formatted by the program, print attributes will be applied where appropriate.
For additional examples of LegalCitation database entries for cases, see the LegalCitation Style Guide.
Note that LegalCitation does not alter case names when citations are formatted. Use the Bluebook or ALWD guidelines for deriving case names from captions printed in reporters regarding the parties involved in a case.
Enter procedural phrases (e.g., in re, ex parte, ex rel.) in the field without print attributes.
If you are working primarily with journals that format citations using the
Australian Guide to Legal Citation, you will need to enter case names with “v” rather than “v.”
If the case will be published in a bound reporter that does not yet have a volume number or pages assigned, enter three underscores in the Volume field and the 1st Page field to indicate that these have yet to be assigned. Enter the Day and month of the decision, and a parallel cite to an online source, if available, to help your readers locate the case.
In your LegalCitation records, reporter names should be entered in the Reporter field. Note that you can enter the full name or the abbreviation for the reporter.
If you elect to enter the full name of the reporter, you can use LegalCitation’s abbreviation table feature to replace the full name you've entered in the record with the proper abbreviation when the citation for the work is formatted.
If you prefer entering abbreviations, consult the abridged listing below or search the
Abbreviations Archives at legalcitation.net for legal publications (reporters, administrative publications, services,
and periodicals).
Included here is a list of commonly used reporters and abbreviations:
For Supreme Court cases, the source reporters to reference should be in the following order of preference:
United States Reports
Supreme Court Reporter
United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer’s Edition
United States Law Week
For all other cases, the official reporter is preferred over the unofficial reporter. Make certain you
consult local court rules for further information on the appropriate reporter to cite.
To include a pinpoint cite to page 310 in the Zorach case, for instance, you would enter an Access key in your word processing document that includes the Access Phrase for the record, a colon, and the pinpoint page reference:
{Zorach 1952: 310}
When Generate Citations is run, LegalCitation will format
the footnote in the document with the information in the record, as well as the pinpoint
reference included in the Access key:
Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306, 310 (1952).
If you are entering a record for a work you will cite only once in your work, you may enter the pinpoint cite in the 1st Page field:
This method will produce a correct citation in LegalCitation, as we can see in the Preview box:
This is not the preferred system for entering records in the LegalCitation program, as you will need either a new record, or to edit the existing record, each time you have a different pinpoint reference to a particular case. For more information on Pages references and Pinpoint cites,
see Pages and Pinpoint citations.
In properly formatted legal citations of cases, the court or jurisdiction is included in the date parenthetical following the name of the reporter and the page on which the case begins:
Hooper v. Rockwell, 513 S.E.2d 358 (S.C. 1999).
Court names
Note that you can enter the court name in your LegalCitation records as either an abbreviation or the full name.
If you elect to enter the full name of the court, you can use Citation’s abbreviation table feature to replace the full name with the proper abbreviation when the citation for the work is formatted.
If you prefer entering abbreviations, you can use the Abbreviations Archives at legalcitation.net or your citation style manual to locate court abbreviations.
Court indicated by reporter name
Do not include the name of the court if the court is clearly indicated by the name of the reporter. If the case is reported in United States Reports (U.S.), for instance, the court of decision is clearly the United States Supreme Court. A number of other courts of decision are also clearly indicated by the name of the reporter. In the example here, the Supreme court of Connecticut is understood to be the court of decision from the name of the reporter:
Division, Department, District information
When you are entering information on a state case, however, include available information about depts, districts, or divisions to inform readers whether the case is binding within a certain jurisdiction or to reflect the weight of the case. Include the department, district, or division abbreviation after the court abbreviation, in the Court field.
Federal cases, the 5th Circuit split
When you are entering information on a federal case decided in the 5th Circuit, enter information on divisions only for those decided in the Fifth Circuit prior to 1981.
For any former Fifth Circuit case, add “Unit A” or “Unit B” after “5th Cir.” whenever possible. See your citation style guide for more information regarding the 5th Cir. split.
US Supreme Court decisions reported in USLW
Always enter “U.S.” as the court of decision for US Supreme Court decisions published in United States Law Week. Include the exact date of the decision.
