Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-4-2025

Keywords

Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act, Case citation, Neutral case citation

Disciplines

Legal Writing and Research

Abstract

By the early 1990s, numerous advantages of disseminating legal information electronically instead of in print had become widely recognized. These included the potential for faster and wider access and increased competition. To maximize those gains, the American Association of Law Libraries and American Bar Association recommended that the nation’s court systems adopt public (non-proprietary) systems of case citation that could function readily regardless of medium. A few had already headed down that path. In the years since, others have followed.

This article traces the progress of that movement and describes a less conspicuous alternative more recently implemented in a number of U.S. jurisdictions. It surveys the current status of these reforms and examines: their recognition and use beyond the implementing jurisdiction, the gains realized by adopting jurisdictions, and the limited impact of the Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act on these developments. It concludes with an exploration of the reasons why the shift to neutral case law citation has proven so halting and uneven.

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