Bluebook users: automated citations in Firefox

The Law Librarian Blog recently posted news of a new tool available for Firefox users, CiteGenie. It purportedly can create "Bluebook-formatted pinpoint citations from Westlaw." The post refers readers to an article reviewing CiteGenie by Marc Hershovitz at LLRX.com.

This is a fascinating product, from what I've read in Hershovitz's review. Keep reading. You may be delighted or horrified, depending on your attitude toward teaching citations.

Using the Firefox browser to access Westlaw, a user pulls up an authority in Westlaw, highlights and copies the desired text, and pastes it into a word processing document. CiteGenie then automatically adds the full citation to the quotation, including pinpoint references (even when they span pages). Note that it does not add subsequent history, although it does flag cases to alert users to check the KeyCite results. CiteGenie can also be configured to warn users if the material copied comes from a dissenting or concurring opinion.

Hershovitz tested CiteGenie for its ability to recognize and apply some of the "tricky" rules of citation: parallel citation (including whether to use it or not depending on a jurisdiction's own briefing rules); case names (e.g., when to use a state's name vs. referring to it as "State," "Commonwealth," "People"); pinpointing material appearing in footnotes; dropping the second business reference for party names ending in "Co., Inc."; even altering citations to conform to state-specific rules, such as medium neutral and public domain references. In Hershovitz's test, CiteGenie got them all right. It handles state and federal statutes and regulations, too.

Hershovitz acknowledges that although CiteGenie is "not quite perfect," he's hooked. As your students discover this product, they will probably be hooked, too.

The CiteGenie website advises visitors that Lexis (some functionality available now) and Internet Explorer versions are "in development."

ADDED: If you are an ALWD citation manual user, you may wish to look at this product, too. Most practitioner-style citations in Bluebook and ALWD are identical, particularly for cases and statutes. CiteGenie will let you select a "truncated court name" (e.g., Ark. App. instead of Ark. Ct. App.), which matches ALWD's requirements. You'll need to watch for Bluebook Table 6 abbreviations that use apostrophes, changing them to conform with ALWD Appendix 3 abbreviations.

ALSO ADDED: I downloaded CiteGenie and tried it myself. Note that it does not italicize or underline case names (you'll have to do that yourself when you edit your document). Also note that it relies on the West's running head for its rendition of the case name. As you know, sometimes the running head version does not conform to a citation manual's dictates.

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