The Case for Neutral Citations in the Law
Neutral citations are standard, court-assigned references for court opinions that remain the same, regardless of the publisher. This makes them universally accessible across different legal databases and publications.
This means that the public can immediately, easily, and permanently reference legal decisions from the moment they are published on a court's website. When neutral citations are available, for-profit publishers no longer decide how litigants refer to decisions — the court does.
Why should a court issue opinions with neutral citations?
Standardization — Neutral citations follow a uniform format, allowing for a consistent way to reference cases across jurisdictions.
Accessibility — Neutral citations make legal information freely accessible. They allow individuals to access judgments without needing a subscription to a commercial database.
Innovation — For-profit publishers currently control citations. This hampers those who wish to build innovative case law services — you cannot compete with the publishers while they control how the law is cited. In the past, publishers have claimed copyright on citations to prevent innovation in this area.
Stability — Because they are assigned by the court, neutral citations are a permanent identifier. They are not affected by changes in publishers or variations in how different databases list cases.
Compatibility — Neutral citations can be used to integrate international and online databases, making it easier to find cases across different jurisdictions, and systems. This compatibility supports research, judicial decisions, and legal writing by making it easier to track and cite cases accurately.
What do neutral citations look like?
Neutral citations are simple. The general format is:
YEAR COURT-ABBREVIATION SERIAL-NUMBER
For example, the first decision from New Hampshire's Supreme Court in 2024 is:
2024 N.H. 1
Easy!
Pin cites are done via paragraph numbers. So a full citation might look like:
Kennedy v. Acme, Inc. 2024 N.H. 1, ¶¶ 5-6
What does a court have to do to issue neutral citations?
Issuing neutral citations for the first time can feel complicated and daunting, but it need not be. The general process, which over a dozen courts have already done, has three important steps:
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Establish a local rule.
Before litigants can use neutral citations, the court has to pass a local rule permitting and/or encouraging their use. The process for this is different at every court, but we are happy to collaborate on rule language if desired.
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Issue the citation.
Once the rule is promulgated, the court needs to create neutral citations for each published decision. Start with decision #1 each year, and count upwards from there. Ideally, the citation would go in your template for new decisions, but putting it on your website can be enough.
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Use paragraph numbering for pin cites.
When a court doesn't issue neutral citations, pin cites rely on the page numbers of bound volumes. This is antiquated and even libraries aren't buying the books much anymore. To fix this, courts should add paragraph numbering to their decisions, so that litigants can cite particular paragraphs.
A fourth bonus step is also recommended:
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Create historical citations.
It's great to adopt neutral citations beginning today, but it's also possible to assign neutral citations to the historical decisions of a court. This process can be technically challenging, but we are happy to help.
Where are neutral citations already used?
Courts have issued neutral citations in the United States for over 30 years. Here are the US courts that currently issue neutral citations:
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Mississippi
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Vermont
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Talking Points for Court Staff
Questions do come up during the adoption phase of neutral citations. We believe the talking points below can help move past the most common questions that arise:
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Neutral citations improve public access to case law by making judicial decisions available independent of commercial publishers. Neutral citations allow “equal and timely access to official citations for all attorneys and companies innovating in this space.”
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Neutral citations reinforce the idea that the government produced this work, so the public owns the final product. It makes case law vendor-neutral, technology-neutral, and medium-neutral.
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Paragraph numbering makes finding specific sections of the opinion easier, without relying on the paper pages of bound volumes. In fact, paragraph numbering allows citations to be more accurate than pin cites that point to an entire page.
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Neutral citations are endorsed by all the right organizations:
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Current citation rules are anti-competitive and reinforce the need for lawyers to have subscriptions to private publishing vendors. This is a problem on its own, but also reinforces/increases the access to justice gap for self-represented litigants who rarely have access to such tools.
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Neutral citations reduce the cost of legal research.
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Neutral citations eliminate the need for slip opinions with temporary citation numbers.
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Neutral citations are used in other countries (UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia).
What can you do to help?
Everyone:
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Educate & Inform — Share the benefits of neutral citations with legal professionals, academics, and students. Include the advantages of neutral citations in your articles, blog posts, conference presentations, and webinars to raise awareness. Invite Free Law Project to talk about neutral citations on your platform or to your organization.
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Petitions & Advocacy — Anyone (but particularly bar associations, law schools, or legal professionals) could start petitions or letter writing campaigns urging their local courts to adopt neutral citations. This kind of organized support can demonstrate widespread demand within the legal community.
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Promote Best Practices — Share examples from other jurisdictions already using neutral citations effectively, like the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Highlight how these systems operate can make a compelling case for other courts to adopt similar practices.
Court Administrators & Judges:
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Issue the citations!
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Advocate within your court system if you are not the ultimate decision maker.
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Invite Free Law Project to present on the benefits of neutral citations to your decision makers.
Academics:
- Academics institutions and law libraries can advocate for neutral citations in their educational resources, teaching materials, and research tools. Law students and researchers can be powerful advocates within the legal system.
- Encourage your legal database vendors to adopt neutral citations.
Journalists & Publishers:
- Use and promote neutral citations as part of your citation standards. This could encourage courts to adopt the systems to stay consistent with publishing trends.
Major Legal Database Vendors:
- Prioritize and incorporate neutral citations in your systems.
Taking the first step
Free Law Project is a non-profit focused on making the judiciary better. We're huge believers in neutral citations, and we are happy to talk to stakeholders that are interested in the transition.
Many courts have now made this transition and published their outcomes, but we are happy to discuss neutral citations with any court that is interested.
Get In TouchAdditional Resources
- Peter Martin's Neutral Citation, Court Web Sites, and Access to Authoritative Case Law
- Jennifer Marsh’s It Is So Ordered: Making the Case for Universal Citations
- Justia's blog post on neutral citations
- Michael Umberger 's Checking Up on Court Citation Standards: How Neutral Citation Improves Public Access to Case Law
- Gary Wolf’s Who Owns the Law?
