User's Guide to the Bluebook (for The Bluebook: Uniform System of Citations- 18th Edition)

My only exposure to the blue book was a dismissive 5 minute tour by a bored second-year student who was supposed to be a pillar of strength during for our "Lawyering Process" class. Had I not discovered this book, I would have been on a suicide watch that first semester of law school.

This book is small and ungodly expensive - it's also one of my most cherished possessions.

Dan Lobnitz - University of Denver College of Law - (2L)


Helpful   May 18, 2010
RC
For first year law students, I'd recommend picking this up. It is only 20 pages or so long, and it doesn't offer anything that you couldn't find in the bluebook. That being said, for $10, it helps you ease into the bluebook very nicely. It goes over all of the basic rules in a very simple way. The examples are better than those in the bluebook, and it explains everything in a less cryptic manner.

My first year legal writing class had a bluebook assignment on the first day, and there was no instruction on the bluebook at all. While everyone else was banging their head against the wall, 15 minutes of reading this and I was set. It is expensive for what you get, but it's worth it.


For those to whom the bluebook remains a mystery   June 4, 2000
Chitown Reader (Chicago, IL)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

I agree with the comments of the reviewer below pertaining to italics over underlining. See infra review of Thomas Blackwell. However, this book will not be very helpful to most users of the bluebook. The book is very, very brief and contains nothing not contained in the bluebook itself. Further, the index of the bluebook allows easy location of the applicable rules for even the most obscure of situations. This very short book merely reiterates that which is already contained in the bluebook, I would only recommend this book to the truly bluebook clueless.