Interactive Citation Workbook for The Bluebook : A Uniform System of Citiation by Have no fear!
Use T10 (Geographical Terms) and T13 to create a Bluebook abbreviation.
For example, the fictional "Philadelphia Journal of Law and Order" would be abbreviated:
Philadelphia → Phila. (T10.1 U.S. states, cities and territories)
Journal → J.
of → (omitted, see explanation at beginning of T13 on p. 510)
Law → L.
and → &
Order → Ord.
(Spacing follows R6.1. No space between L. and J.)
Giving you...
Phila. J.L. & Ord.
The Bluepages and Whitepages sketch out rules to follow, and leave it to the tables to fill in the details. For example, R10.2.2 tells you to abbreviate case names in citations, but rather than list all of the abbreviations there in the rules, it refers you to T6.
You'll find the tables at the very back of the Bluebook, just before the index.
This page is meant to acquaint you with some of the tables you'll use most often. Many law students and attorneys put little tabs in their Bluebook to bookmark these tables. The online Bluebook will let you do the same thing.
T1 United States Jurisdictions: (p. 233)
Tells you the official source to cite for authorities at the federal level and all states and territories, along with the correct abbreviation.
T2 Foreign Jurisdictions: (p. 307)
Helpful both for the kind of information you find for U.S. jurisdictions in T1 as well as basic information about the legal system of different countries. It also provides websites where you can find other countries' laws. This can be a really easy starting point for foreign legal research.
T6 Case Names: (p. 496)
The king of the tables! Most likely to be tabbed! This table gives you all of the quirky ways the Bluebook wants you to abbreviate case names. Some will be intuitive (Federal is "Fed."), but others won't come so easily (Shareholder is "S'holder"). That's why people put a tab on T6.
T10 Geographical Terms: (p. 502)
You'll use these to craft abbreviations for cases, periodicals, and even institutional authors. The most important thing to note is that you do not use the postal abbreviation for a state. Often it isn't very close. Mississippi is shortened to "Miss." and Ohio isn't shorted at all.
T13 Periodicals: (p. 510)
This table contains both ready-made abbreviations and pieces to make your own.
