Suggested Improvements to The McGill Guide, 10th Edition

Hannah Steeves of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia contributed an article last week to Slaw.ca about Seeing Red: The McGill Guide, 10th Edition. She is the Instruction & Reference Librarian at the Sir James Dunn Law Library at that institution.

The McGill Guide of course is the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation we all love so much, and love to criticize.

In her article, Steeves mentions that a 10th edition is scheduled for 2022. 

And as someone who teaches legal citation to first year law students, she has a few suggestions for improvements that involve being more flexible and accessible.

Her intro is brilliantly put:

"Disclaimer: I am required to teach legal citation to keen 1Ls that are learning about snails in bottles, individuals masturbating in windows, cannibalism at sea, and cricket games [my note: referring to famous cases]. I am never surprised that they do not find legal citation particularly exciting. However, unexciting does not mean unimportant. I understand and value proper citation and appreciate the efforts that McGill Law students and faculty have put into the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation since 1986."

As someone who taught legal citation to summer students in a major law firm a zillion years ago, I can identify.