Joe Kimble on where to put citations

Judging from reader comments, the most controversial topics discussed on this blog are (in no particular order):

• Full justification of text versus a ragged-right margin
• Two spaces after each sentence (a.k.a. French spacing) versus just one space
• Citations in text versus in footnote

Tackling that third controversy is this recent article by Joe Kimble. In it, Joe explains why he (and a majority of readers surveyed) prefer citations in footnotes.

Comments

[Aaron]

I've asked several local judges lately about the citation-location issue. So far, the score is:

In the text: 3
In footnotes: 0.

I still like them in footnotes myself.

Perhaps I'll start asking about the spacing issue in future interviews.

[Joni]

I teach my Legal Writing students to place them in text. For those learning the craft, it simplifies the process and leads to fewer mistakes.