Interpreting Legal Abbreviations

There are certain abbreviations and acronyms that are unique to the legal profession and finding out what their meanings are or what the acronyms stand for is usually a good way to start a basic legal research task.

Sources For Legal Abbreviations

Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations: Reference Guide for Attorneys, Legal Secretaries, Paralegals, and Law Students 5th ed., by Mary Miles Prince. Buffalo, NY: Williams S. Hein, 2001. - this source provides an extensive coverage of abbreviations used in law reporters, legal encyclopedias and dictionaries, looseleaf services, law reviews, legal treatises and legal reference books, and citators. It contains over 35,000 entries.
Location: Law Library Reference Desk
Call No.: KF246.B46 2001

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation 18th ed., by editors of Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review and Yale Law Journal. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law Review Association, 2005. - While this source is primarily a standard legal citation manual, it also contains tables of abbreviations covering a wide range of law reporters, legal periodicals, court documents, etc.
Location: Law Library Reference Desk
Call No.: KF245.B58 2000

Helpful Hint

Remember to check the source where you found the abbreviation. A list of abbreviations unique to that source you are using is usually found in front or back of the book or series.

Examples:
Index to Legal Periodicals
Shepard's Citations (any specific title).

Common Legal Abbreviations
Abbreviation	Stands for	Description/Location
A. A.2d	Atlantic Reporter	West's regional reporter covering state cases from CT, DE, DC, ME, MD, NH, NJ, PA, RI, and VT KF135 .A7 (Stacks)
Am. Jur. Am. Jur. 2d	American Jurisprudence	National legal encyclopedia; provides general overview of legal topics with references to relevant cases and secondary sources KF---- (Reference Stacks)
A.L.R. A.L.R.2d A.L.R.3d A.L.R.4th A.L.R.5th A.L.R.6th A.L.R. Fed. A.L.R. Fed. 2d	American Law Reports	In-depth annotations on legal topics derived from selected leading cases KF132 .A47 (Stacks)
C. C.2d C.3d C.4th	California Reports	Official reporter of California Supreme Court opinions; this abbreviation is found in some California sources, but is not approved by the Bluebook KFC45 .A23 (Stacks)
C.A. C.A.2d C.A.3d C.A.4th	California Appellate Reports	Official reporter of California Court of Appeal opinions; this abbreviation is found in some California sources, but it is not approved by the Bluebook KFC48 .A2123 (Stacks)
Cal. Cal. 2d Cal. 3d Cal. 4th	California Reports	Official reporter of California Supreme Court opinions; this abbreviation is used by the Bluebook KFC45 .A23 (Stacks)
Cal. App. Cal. App. 2d Cal. App. 3d Cal. App. 4th	California Appellate Reports	Official reporter of California Court of Appeal opinions; this abbreviation is used by the Bluebook KFC48 .A2123 (Stacks)
Cal. Code Regs.	California Code of Regulations	Topical collection of current rules and regulations adopted by California state agencies KFC35 .A224 (Stacks) ccr.oal.ca.gov
Cal. Rptr. Cal. Rptr. 2d Cal. Rptr. 3d	California Reporter	West's reporter of California Supreme Court and Court of Appeal opinions KFC47 .C3 (Stacks)
C.C.R.	California Code of Regulations	Topical collection of current rules and regulations adopted by California state agencies KFC35 .A224 (Stacks)
C.F.R.	Code of Federal Regulations	Official publication of federal agency regulations currently in force, arranged topically KF70 .A3 (Stacks)
C.J.S.	Corpus Juris Secundum	National legal encycloopedia; provides general overview of legal topics with case citations and references to West's key numbers KF154 .C52 (Reference Stacks)
F. F.2d F.3d	Federal Reporter	West's reporter containing opinions of United States Courts of Appeals KF105 .R40 (Stacks)
F.R.D.	Federal Rules Decisions	West's reporter containing federal trial court decisions construing the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure KF8830 .F42 (Stacks)
F. Supp. F. Supp. 2d	Federal Supplement	West's reporter containing opinions of United States District Courts KF105 .S9 (Stacks)
Fed. Reg.	Federal Register	Daily source of new rules, proposed rules, notices, and other documents issued by federal administrative agencies KF70 .A2 (Stacks)
L. Ed. L. Ed. 2d	U.S. Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer's Edition	Reporter containing United States Supreme Court opinions with editorial headnotes and annotations KF101 .U51 (Stacks)
N.E. N.E.2d	North Eastern Reporter	West's regional reporter covering state cases from IL, IN, MA, NY, and OH KF135 .N6 (Stacks)
N.W. N.W.2d	North Western Reporter	West's regional reporter covering state cases from IA, MI, MN, NE, ND, SD, and WI KF135 .N7 (Stacks)
P. P.2d P.3d	Pacific Reporter	West's regional reporter covering state cases from AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, KS, MT, NV, NM, OK, OR, UT, WA, and WY KF135 .P2 (Stacks)
S. Ct.	Supreme Court Reporter	West's reporter for United States Supreme Court cases with editorial headnotes and West's key number system KF101 .U52x (Stacks)
S.E. S.E.2d	South Eastern Reporter	West's regional reporter covering state cases from GA, NC, SC, VA, and WV KF135 .S6 (Stacks)
So. So. 2d	Southern Reporter	West's regional reporter covering state cases from AL, FL, LA, and MS. KF135 .S8 (Stacks)
S.W. S.W.2d S.W.3d	South Western Reporter	West's regional reporter covering state cases from AR, KY, MO, TN, and TX KF135 .S7 (Stacks)
U.S.	United States Reports	Official reporter of opinions from the United States Supreme Court KF101 .U4 (Stacks)
U.S.C.	United States Code	Official publication of federal statutes currently in force, arranged topically KF62 .A2 (Stacks)
U.S.C.A.	United States Code Annotated	West's annotated version of United States Code with cross references and notes of decisions KF62.5 .W4 (Stacks)
U.S.C.S.	United States Code Service	Annotated version of United States Code from LexisNexis with cross references and notes of decisions KF62.5 1972 .L38 (Stacks)

Posted 1 Oct. 2004, rev. 2 Oct. 2007