Failing to Use Pincites
As a writing professor, when I am reading student writing there are few things that
irk me more than reading a citation without a pincite. A pincite is the page number
within a source that the writer is referring
to.19 Judges and law clerks likely feel the
same way when they are reading briefs. As
one lawyer noted, “[l]aw clerks seem to be
skeptical of everything lawyers say ... ”20 If
you want to check whether a citation is accurate, or see the quoted material in context, you are creating a ton of work for your
reader if you don’t provide the pincite. Instead of zeroing in on just one page, your
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reader will have to flip through the entire
case. As most legal writing readers are busy
people, in many situations your reader is unlikely to take the time to find the referenced
page. The result may be that your reader
discredits your cite, or worse, relies instead
on the cites in your opponent’s briefs.
Failing to Cite Facts
Here’s what Judge Clyde Hamilton of the
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had to say
about that:
[The importance of] appropriate citations to the [record] cannot be overemphasized. Little else makes my blood
boil quicker than reading an appellate
brief that lacks appropriate citations to
the [record] in the statement of facts
and the argument components. Apparently, the parties submitting these
briefs are under the serious misimpression that appellate judges have endless
hours to spend combing the [record] in
an effort to match up scattered pieces
of evidence with a party’s unreferenced
factual assertions.
Making Your Writing Out of Cite
en in the text.”15 You should especially use
an explanatory parenthetical when “the relevance of a cited authority might not otherwise be clear to the reader.”16 Parentheticals should begin with lowercase present
participial phrases (“ing” words) like “noting,” “holding,” “finding,” “citing,” “distinguishing.” You can also use a parenthetical
to include a direct quote from the authority
you are citing. If you quote a full sentence,
“it should begin with a capital letter and include appropriate closing punctuation.”17
Importantly, “[l]aw clerks say they like direct quotations [in an explanatory parenthetical] because it shows exactly what the
court states and not just your interpretation
of what you wish it said.”18
Judge Hamilton doesn’t like when writers
don’t cite the record; no one does. Citations to the record are covered in Bluebook
Rules 10.3 and 10.4. Don’t forget to include
the page as well as the line when citing to
depositions and trial transcripts. Law clerks
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