bluebook nerd alert

Warning -- I'm going to gripe about the Bluebook. If you have no idea what the Bluebook is, please read over this post and enjoy the Po the Panda video.

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Having been in law school for two years now, and also being on a law journal for most of those two years, I have to live and breathe by the rules of the Bluebook. I might have slept with the Bluebook under my pillow for the whole first semester of law school (we had these stupid citation quizzes we had to do online). And then there were these "Bluebook Parties" for the legal journals. Ack, needless to say, the Bluebook is "my friend."

So I've been interning for the City Attorney's office somewhere in the Bay Area for the last month and although I don't physically have my Bluebook sitting right next to me, I have been quite proud of myself for memorizing most of the rules for citations. Well, put a foot in my mouth! Little did I know, California state courts DON'T FOLLOW THE BLUEBOOK.

Example:

Regular Bluebook citation -- Ehret v. Congoleum Corp., 87 Cal.App.4th 202 (Cal. App. 2nd Dist. 2001).

How the courts in California wants that same citation to be cited -- Ehret v. Congoleum Corp. (2001) 87 Cal.App.4th 202, 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 370.

I was all proud of my memo, and was so surprised to get it back with all these red arrows from the year indicating it should go after the case name.

*Sigh* At least I have the excuse that I'm a student at a mid-west law school. The other interns from Bay Area law schools didn't know about the difference in citation either. Goes to show that WHATEVER YOU LEARN IN LAW SCHOOL IS COMPLETELY USELESS IN THE REAL WORLD.