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Found out my 'dated' legal citations were a mess after a clerk corrected me in court
I was filing a small claims dispute in Portland and kept using old case law from 2010. A clerk pointed out my citations didn't follow the current format, and I realized I'd been copying the wrong style from an outdated template for years. Anyone else ever had a procedural rule bite them at the last minute?
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ninal912mo ago
Honestly I gotta push back on this a little bit. Courts are supposed to be about the substance of your argument not whether you used the right italicization or comma placement in a citation from 2010. If a clerk is actually correcting you on formatting instead of addressing the merits of your case that's kind of a red flag about the system being too focused on petty rules. I mean small claims court is supposed to be accessible for regular people not just lawyers who memorize the latest Bluebook edition.
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grace4192mo ago
I get what you're saying @ninal91 but honestly I think there's a middle ground here. The formatting rules are annoying yeah, but they exist so judges and clerks can actually find what you're referencing without wasting time. Small claims might be more casual but if your citations are way off it can hurt your credibility even if your argument is solid.
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