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Common Law School Abbreviations Explained

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Common Law School Abbreviations Explained

Law school abbreviations fall into four buckets: note-taking shorthand (π, ∆, K, S/L), citation abbreviations governed by The Bluebook (F.3d, S.D.N.Y., S. Ct., id.), procedural and doctrinal shorthand (12(b)(6), MSJ, JMOL, RAP), and administrative jargon (1L, LRW, OCI, MPRE, EIC). The shorthand is safe in your own notes and outlines, but citation abbreviations follow fixed forms in Bluebook Tables T1, T6, T7, and T10, and you should spell most doctrinal shorthand out at least once in graded writing.

Which shorthand symbols will you see on day one?

Most of the symbols in your classmates' notes come from a handful of conventions that nobody formally teaches. π (pi) means plaintiff and ∆ (delta) means defendant; some professors use P and D instead, and in criminal cases you may see State or Gov't versus ∆. K means contract, and Kr or K'or/K'ee sometimes mean contractor, promisor, or promisee. In Property, O is the grantor or original owner and A, B, C are the takers in a conveyance hypothetical — 'O conveys Blackacre to A for life, then to B' is the standard form.

Other high-frequency shorthand: S/L or SOL for statute of limitations, SOF for statute of frauds, RAP for the Rule Against Perpetuities, BFP for bona fide purchaser, FSA for fee simple absolute, and SJ or MSJ for summary judgment. In Torts you will see NIED and IIED (negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress), and RIL for res ipsa loquitur. In Criminal Law, MPC means the Model Penal Code and CL means common law — that distinction structures most crim exam questions.

None of this is standardized across schools or even across professors. Write your own key on the first page of your notes for each class so your outline still makes sense in April.

What do the procedural abbreviations mean?

Civil Procedure runs on rule numbers used as nouns. A '12(b)(6)' is a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6); a '12(b)(1)' attacks subject matter jurisdiction, a '12(b)(2)' personal jurisdiction, and a '12(b)(3)' venue. MTD means motion to dismiss generally. Rule 56 governs summary judgment, so MSJ and 'Rule 56 motion' mean the same thing. Rule 50 governs judgment as a matter of law, abbreviated JMOL; the pre-1991 term for a post-verdict JMOL was JNOV (judgment non obstante veredicto), and older casebook opinions still use it. Rule 12(c) motions are for judgment on the pleadings.

You will also see FRCP for the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and FRE for the Federal Rules of Evidence, though The Bluebook citation forms are 'Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6)' and 'Fed. R. Evid. 403.' Use the abbreviated names in class and the Bluebook forms in papers.

How do citation abbreviations work?

Citation abbreviations are not free-form — they come from tables in The Bluebook (or the ALWD Guide, if your school uses it). Table T1 gives the correct reporter and court abbreviations for every U.S. jurisdiction. Table T6 tells you how to abbreviate words in case names (Corporation to Corp., Association to Ass'n). Table T7 covers court names, T10 covers geographic terms, and T13 covers law review and journal names.

The reporters you will meet most often: U.S. is United States Reports, the official Supreme Court reporter; S. Ct. is West's Supreme Court Reporter; L. Ed. and L. Ed. 2d are the Lawyers' Edition. F., F.2d, F.3d, and F.4th are the Federal Reporter series for the federal courts of appeals; F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, and F. Supp. 3d cover federal district courts. State cases appear in regional reporters: A.3d (Atlantic), N.E.3d, N.W.2d, P.3d, S.E.2d, So. 3d, and S.W.3d.

Court abbreviations in parentheticals tell you which court decided the case. '(9th Cir. 2019)' is the Ninth Circuit; '(S.D.N.Y. 2020)' is the Southern District of New York; '(N.D. Cal.)' is the Northern District of California; '(Cal. 2015)' with no court designation means the California Supreme Court, because the highest court of a state is signaled by the jurisdiction abbreviation alone. Watch New York: 'N.Y. Sup. Ct.' is a trial court and 'N.Y.' alone means the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.

What are id., supra, cf., and the other citation signals?

Short-form citations save space. 'Id.' refers to the immediately preceding authority; 'Id. at 512' means the same source at a different page. 'Supra' points to a source cited earlier and, under Bluebook Rule 4.2, is generally not used for cases, statutes, or constitutions — those get case-name short forms instead. 'Infra' points forward. 'Ibid.' appears in some academic disciplines but is not a Bluebook form.

Introductory signals carry substantive meaning and are covered by Rule 1.2. No signal means the source directly states the proposition. 'See' means the source supports it by inference. 'See, e.g.,' means the source is one of several. 'Cf.' means the source supports an analogous proposition. 'But see' and 'contra' signal contrary authority — and omitting them when a source cuts against you is a candor problem, not just a style problem.

Prior and subsequent history abbreviations appear after the citation: aff'd, rev'd, vacated, cert. denied, cert. granted, reh'g denied. These come from Bluebook Table T8. Also standard: v. (versus), et al. (and others), et seq. (and following), and § or §§ for section and sections.

How are the major sources of law abbreviated?

U.S.C. is the United States Code, cited as '42 U.S.C. § 1983.' C.F.R. is the Code of Federal Regulations; Fed. Reg. is the Federal Register. U.C.C. is the Uniform Commercial Code, and Article 2 governs the sale of goods — the single most-cited provision block in a 1L Contracts course.

Restatements get cited in full in writing but abbreviated in conversation. 'R2d Torts § 402A' or 'Restatement Second' means the Restatement (Second) of Torts; you will hear R2K or 'Restatement 2d Contracts' for contracts. Note that there is a Restatement (Third) of Torts covering products liability and physical harm, so ask which one your professor means. MPC is the Model Penal Code. MRPC or the Model Rules refers to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, tested on the MPRE.

What do the school and career abbreviations mean?

1L, 2L, and 3L designate your year; 4L usually means a part-time or evening student in the fourth year. J.D. is the Juris Doctor; LL.M. is a one-year master's, often for foreign-trained lawyers or tax specialists; S.J.D. or J.S.D. is the doctoral degree. LRW, LARW, LW, or Legal Methods is the required first-year legal research and writing course — the name varies by school.

Exam and licensing terms: LSAT for admissions; MPRE for the ethics exam, usually taken in the second or third year; the UBE (Uniform Bar Examination) is composed of the MBE (multiple choice), MEE (essays), and MPT (performance test), all written by the NCBE. Not all states use the UBE, and the NextGen bar exam is being phased in on a state-by-state schedule, so check your target jurisdiction's board of law examiners.

Career and honors terms: OCI or EIP means on-campus interviewing or the early interview program, where firms recruit summer associates (SAs). RA and TA are research and teaching assistant positions. EIC is editor-in-chief of a journal; a 'Note' is the student-written piece journal members must produce. CALI awards go to the top scorer in a course at many schools, and Order of the Coif is a national academic honor society. ASP is the academic support program. PSLF and LRAP refer to federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness and school loan repayment assistance programs.

When should you avoid abbreviations?

Use shorthand freely in your notes, briefs, and outlines. Use it on exams only where your professor has used it in class — π and ∆ are almost always safe, K is usually safe, and novel abbreviations you invented are not. If you abbreviate something unusual on an exam, define it once in parentheses on first use and then use it consistently.

In graded writing — memos, briefs, journal notes, seminar papers — spell out doctrinal terms on first reference and follow the citation manual your instructor assigns. Bluebook Rule 6.1 and Table T6 control which words you may abbreviate in text and in case names, and those rules differ between the Bluepages (practitioner format, used for memos and briefs) and the white pages (academic format, used for journals). If you are unsure whether an abbreviation is standard, write it out. Nobody has ever lost points for clarity.

Key Takeaways

  • π means plaintiff, ∆ means defendant, and K means contract — these are the three abbreviations you will see most in your first week.
  • Rule numbers work as nouns in Civ Pro: 12(b)(6) is failure to state a claim, Rule 56 is summary judgment, and Rule 50 is JMOL (formerly JNOV).
  • Citation abbreviations are not optional style choices; Bluebook Tables T1, T6, T7, and T10 dictate the correct forms for reporters, case names, courts, and geography.
  • Signals like see, cf., and but see carry distinct substantive meanings under Bluebook Rule 1.2 and cannot be swapped for one another.
  • Note-taking shorthand varies by professor and school, so build a personal key at the start of each course.
  • Spell out doctrinal abbreviations on first use in any graded writing, and use exam shorthand only when your professor used it first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to use π and ∆ on a final exam?
Almost always yes, because these symbols are near-universal in American law school. If your professor used them in class or on a sample answer, use them without explanation. If you are unsure, write 'plaintiff (P)' once and then use P throughout — that costs you six words and eliminates all risk.
What is the difference between 'Cal.' and 'Cal. Ct. App.' in a citation?
'(Cal. 2015)' means the Supreme Court of California, the state's highest court, because Bluebook convention omits the court name when the highest court of a jurisdiction decided the case. '(Cal. Ct. App. 2015)' means the California Court of Appeal, an intermediate appellate court. The distinction matters for precedential weight, so read the parenthetical before you rely on a case.
When can I use 'id.' and when do I need a full citation?
Use 'id.' only when the immediately preceding citation is to the same source and there is no intervening citation. Add a pincite if the page changes: 'Id. at 421.' If another source intervenes, use a short-form case citation instead — for example, 'Palsgraf, 248 N.Y. at 341' — because Bluebook Rule 4.2 does not permit 'supra' for cases.
Does JNOV still exist?
Not as a formal federal term. The 1991 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure consolidated directed verdict and JNOV into a single device, judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50. Casebook opinions decided before then still say JNOV, and some state courts retain the older terminology, so recognize it even though you should write JMOL when applying the federal rules.
Which citation manual does my school use?
This varies. Most schools teach The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, but a substantial minority teach the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation, and some state courts require a local citation manual — California and New York both have their own style manuals used in practice. Your legal writing syllabus will specify which one governs your graded work.
What does OCI mean and when does it happen?
OCI stands for on-campus interviewing, the structured recruiting process where law firms interview students for summer associate positions. Some schools call it EIP (early interview program). Timing has shifted earlier at many schools and now often falls in the summer after the first year rather than in the fall of the second year, so confirm dates with your career services office.

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