By Jane Salem, staff attorney, Nashville

I don’t make my bed first thing every morning. The Christmas tree doesn’t come down on December 26 but usually sometime mid-January when it’s a fire hazard. If I close a door, it’s once, not five times. I’d rather read a book than dust the shelves that store them. And when all else fails, I consult an instruction manual.

So obviously, I am not compulsive.

But I do have one weird quirk: I like to cite the law correctly whenever possible.

I’m not sure how I became this way. Oddly enough, I’ve been informally deputized as the citation cop for the workers’ compensation trial court. My legal education did NOT teach me how to use the BlueBook or cite properly. My legal writing professor was an adjunct who just didn’t think that was important, apparently.

This means I’m largely self-taught on the BlueBook. Like those instruction manuals (that I happily recycle), I look at it as a last resort. Any law student and lawyer can tell you, it’s not a fun read—and they tell us rules not once, but three times over! So it’s three times as long as it needs to be. Whose idea was that? That just bugs me as an editor.

Still, we must deal with many things in life that we don’t particularly care for, like Mondays, taxes and mosquitoes. As lawyers, proper citation according to the BlueBook is just one of them (along with overly-zealous colleagues, the billable hour and the professional privilege tax—but I digress).

“Why do you care? In the 21^st Century, can’t we all just open our favorite legal research database and find cases by name alone? Aren’t you just being picky and a pain in my rear?”

I have had all of these thoughts and more. But it DOES matter. Because cases go through the trial and appellate courts, sometimes more than once at both levels, so which iteration are you referring to? And just like that seersucker suit or the Manolo Blahniks you’re wearing to court, your appearance and the way you are perceived matters. If you can’t cite correctly, what else are you wrong about?

So below I’m going to share a few very basic pointers on how to cite and preferences for citing in your pleadings before the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims. I suggest you print this out and keep it near your computer for quick reference.

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Use a “cheat sheet.” Below is one that I created by cutting and pasting from orders released by our very own Appeals Board. They’re pretty smart, if you haven’t noticed, and they, too, are correct citation nerds. These are examples of how to properly cite to various sources.

Tennessee Supreme Court

Madden v. Holland Grp. of Tenn., Inc., 277 S.W.3d 896, 898 (Tenn. 2009).

Tennessee Supreme Court Special Workers’ Compensation Panel

Goodman v. Schwarz Paper Co., No. W2016-02594-SC-R3-WC, 2018 Tenn. LEXIS 8, at *6 (Tenn. Workers’ Comp. Panel Jan. 18, 2018).

Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board

Frye v. Vincent Printing Co., 2016 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 34, at *16-18 (Aug. 2, 2016).

Note here that the citation above is how the trial courts cite to the Appeals Board. The Appeals Board prefers the longer citation, or Frye v. Vincent Printing Co., 2016 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 34, at *16-18 (Tenn. Workers’ Comp. App. Bd. Aug. 2, 2016). So maybe tailor your cite depending upon your audience.

Tennessee Court of Appeals

Whitaker v. Whirlpool Corp., 32 S.W.3d 222, 227 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000).

Tennessee Compilation Rules and Regulations

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0800-02-22-.03(1) (2023).

Tennessee Code Annotated

Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-239(d)(1) (2023).

When citing to case names, consult the abbreviations table, T6. The table lists two pages of words commonly seen in case names, but it also suggests you may abbreviate “other words of eight letters or more if substantial space” is saved and the result is unambiguous. In addition, you can make any abbreviation plural by adding the letter “s.” For example, “Petroleum” becomes “Petrol.,” and “Services” becomes “Servs.”

But use abbreviations only in citations. If you’re using it as part of a sentence, you don’t abbreviate. That holds true for the statute, too. Use “Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-102.” as a citation. But write it out when using it in a sentence, for example, “The definition of ‘injury’ in Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-102 states…..”.

For names of individuals, just use their surnames. And omit words indicating multiple parties, such as “et al.” and alternative names. In other words, we don’t need “d/b/a” or “a/k/a.”

When using “Id.,” it’s always capitalized. We italicize. And skip that comma! Correct: Id. at *22. Incorrect: id., at *22. For that matter, there’s an entire section on correct short forms of cases, Rule B.4.2. Check it out.

Use pin cites! Where, exactly, does the case say what you’re telling us it stands for?

Cite to Lexis if possible. This isn’t a rule but a suggestion. The State of Tennessee has a contract with LexisNexis. If you can use their cite, you’re saving the judge some time, and that’s always appreciated. The Southwest cite is fine, too.

Update your templates. This also isn’t a rule. But when your brief contains only pre-Reform Act cases, that gives the judges pause. Please keep up with the law. We do; you can, too. It’s our ethical duty.

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I could go on and on, but I think I’ve geeked out enough for one blog post.

Will the judge rule against you if you don’t cite correctly? Of course not. Do we all make mistakes? YES! Nothing annoys me more than thinking I’ve written something error-free, only to later see a big honking speedbump of a boo-boo. ARGGHHHHH.

All you can do is try your best. Run it by a colleague if you’re not sure. If you care, you’ll likely be just fine.