The Michigan Supreme Court abolished the Michigan Uniform System of Citation by Administrative Order No. 2014-22. As a young attorney, my reaction to this was uncertainty, as I momentarily wondered if I was going to have to change my citations which had just started to become habitual for me. The Michigan Supreme Court has now ordered that attorneys follow the Michigan Appellate Opinion Manual, which mentions nothing about citations in its title. This title disappointed me, because if an attorney from out of state (like I was at one time) were to search through Google, or some other search engine, to find out how to cite to an opinion or statute in his or her brief, then that title is unlikely to appear. Today I did exactly that and the Michigan Uniform System of Citation is still the top hit.
Putting that thought aside, I went onto the Michigan Supreme Court’s website and downloaded the Michigan Appellate Opinion Manual. I was glad to find that the method of citations had not changed, but that this Manual was a huge improvement over the Michigan Uniform System of Citation. First, the Manual provided more detailed explanations for citations and provided citations for sources that were not covered in the Uniform System of Citation. Second, I am glad that it is a PDF, because it is completely searchable and one can easily locate the information using the key strokes Ctrl + f (Or command + f if you are a Mac user) and type in the search term in the little box that appears at the top of the page. Third, the Manual is a well-organized PDF, and all of the material is indexed so that if you open the bookmarks on the left hand side bar, the chapters, subchapters and paragraph headings are just a few clicks away.
Finally, the Manual goes beyond citations and has an entire chapter devoted to the correct method for quoting relevant authorities and another chapter devoted to style and grammar. Although the Manual is not a complete grammar guide, it does provide the sources that the editors of the appellate opinions use, which means that I should study those sources for consistency and clarity for my briefs. I am glad that I have found guidance from the Michigan Courts on how to improve the clarity and grammar of my writing, which I am always trying to refine.
Despite the title of the document, the Michigan Appellate Opinion Manual is a huge improvement over the Michigan Uniform System of Citation. It has improved organization and more thorough descriptions of the citations. In addition, it provides authoritative guidance of what is expected out of practitioners in terms of style and grammar.