Writing Conventions for Law
Citation runs on Bluebook or OSCOLA, and neither is formatted here
US legal writing uses the Bluebook; the UK and much of the Commonwealth use OSCOLA, and other jurisdictions have their own guides. Copyeditor formats APA, MLA, Chicago, and IEEE only — legal citation stays a manual job, so treat this page as guidance on the writing, not a promise about the footnotes.
Footnotes carry argument, not just references
A legal footnote often runs several sentences, distinguishing a case, noting a circuit split, or parking a qualification that would derail the paragraph. Reviewers read them closely, and a paper with thin notes reads as underresearched.
Every proposition is pinpointed to a page or paragraph
Citing a judgment as a whole is not enough — you point to the page, paragraph, or section that says what you claim. A pinpoint that does not support the sentence in front of it is the single most damaging error in legal writing.
IRAC governs memoranda; articles are structured by argument
Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion is the working structure for memos and problem questions. Law review articles abandon it for a thesis-driven structure with numbered parts, where the roadmap paragraph at the end of the introduction tells the reader exactly what each part will do.
Statutes and holdings are quoted, not paraphrased
The exact wording of a provision is the object of analysis, so it is reproduced verbatim with a pinpoint. Paraphrasing a statutory text quietly changes what you are arguing about, which is why it is treated as a substantive error rather than a stylistic one.
Hedging is weaker than in the sciences
Legal scholarship asserts what the law is and argues what it should be. “The court erred” and “this reading cannot survive section 12” are normal sentences; a paper padded with “it may perhaps be arguable” reads as evasive rather than careful.
Tense follows the authority, not the calendar
What a case holds is written in the present tense — “Donoghue establishes a duty of care” — while what the parties did is past tense. Mixing the two makes it unclear whether you are reporting history or stating the current rule.
