Bluebook Basics for 1Ls: The 20% That Covers 80% of Cites

The basic case citation

The canonical form is: Case Name, Volume Reporter Page, Pinpoint (Court Year). Example: Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 341 (1928). Break it down: 'Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co.' (parties, italicized in some journals, underlined in most memos), '248' (volume), 'N.Y.' (reporter — New York Reports), '339' (first page), '341' (pinpoint — the exact page you're citing), '(1928)' (year; court is omitted when the reporter identifies it uniquely).

Case names — rule 10

• Abbreviate 'Railroad' to 'R.R.', 'Corporation' to 'Corp.', 'Company' to 'Co.', 'Association' to 'Ass'n' — a fixed list lives in tables T6 and T10.
• 'v.' is always lowercase, with a period, in citations. Never 'vs.'
• Use only the first party on each side. 'Smith v. Jones' — not 'Smith and Doe v. Jones and Roe'.
• Drop 'The' at the start of a party name (but keep 'People of the State of…').

Reporters — rule 10.3 and table T1

Federal cases cite to U.S. (Supreme Court), F., F.2d, F.3d (Courts of Appeals), or F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, F. Supp. 3d (District Courts). State cases cite to the state's official reporter (N.Y., Cal.) if available, then to the regional reporter (N.E.2d, P.3d). When the reporter name identifies the court unambiguously (U.S., N.Y.), omit the court in the parenthetical. When it doesn't (F.3d, N.E.2d), include the court: (2d Cir. 2019) or (N.Y. 2020).

Pinpoint citations — always

Every case citation in a memo or brief includes a pinpoint page unless you're citing the entire opinion. 'Palsgraf, 248 N.Y. at 341' points to the exact page for the proposition. Missing pinpoints are the single most common 1L citation error.

Short forms — rule 10.9

• First full citation: Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 341 (1928).
• Subsequent citations to the same case, same discussion: 'Palsgraf, 248 N.Y. at 342.'
• Immediately following the same citation: 'Id.' (or 'Id. at 342' for a different pinpoint).
• Never use 'supra' for cases in a legal memo (only for books, articles, and non-case sources).

Introductory signals — rule 1.2

• No signal — the source directly states the proposition.
• See — the source clearly supports the proposition, but a reader would have to infer the connection.
• See also — additional supporting authority; used after another supporting cite.
• Cf. — analogous authority; the source supports by analogy, not directly.
• But see — contrary authority; the source clearly supports the opposite conclusion.

Statutes and secondary sources — the quick version

• Federal statute: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2018). The year is the code edition.
• State statute varies by state; check Table T1 — it's the second thing to look up after case reporters.
• Law review article: Author, Title, Volume Journal Page, Pinpoint (Year). E.g., Guido Calabresi, Some Thoughts on Risk Distribution and the Law of Torts, 70 Yale L.J. 499, 505 (1961).
• Book: Author, Title Section/Page (Edition Year). E.g., William L. Prosser, Handbook of the Law of Torts § 42 (4th ed. 1971).

Where Scriba fits in

Scriba's cite-checker parses every citation in your brief or memo, verifies the case exists via CourtListener, and flags formatting problems against a curated subset of Bluebook rules (case name abbreviations, pinpoints, short-form usage). It's not a substitute for reading the actual Bluebook the first time — but for the citations you already understand, it catches typos faster than a human proofread.