Courts' 'universal citations' on hold
January 19, 2023 at 12:03 p.m.
Attention lawyers: The state’s court system is backing off its new “universal citation system” for legal filings.
On Friday, the Supreme Court issued an order to withdraw its previous order on the matter.
“Although the Court initially believed that the inclusion of paragraph numbers in court opinions — a key feature of universal citations — largely could be automated, that has not been the case in practice,” the court said in a press release. “The paragraph numbering has imposed significant administrative burdens on court staff responsible for preparing opinions for filing and physical publication.
“The court will continue to evaluate the universal citation concept with the expectation that the system could be relaunched in the future.”