# Cite-check a draft brief and list every citation to verify

Extracts every citation and quotation from a draft, checks format and internal consistency, and builds a verification table for the team.

- Topic: Legal & Compliance
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Research, Legal, Write, Brainstorm, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/cite-check-a-draft-brief-and-list-every-citation-to-verify

## Prompt

```text
Help me cite-check a draft brief or memo.

**Draft:** [PASTE]
**Citation style required:** [e.g. Bluebook, local court rules, OSCOLA]
**Court / jurisdiction:** [DETAILS]
**Record or exhibit references used:** [e.g. "Ex. 12", "App. 45", "ECF No. 30"]

You cannot confirm that a case or statute exists or says what the draft claims, so do not try. Instead:
1. List every citation in order: Page/para in draft | Citation as written | Proposition it supports | Pinpoint given? | Quotation? | Short form or id. used.
2. Check format against the required style and suggest corrections (italics, abbreviations, reporters, court and year, pinpoints, signals, parentheticals).
3. Check internal consistency: short forms that appear before the full cite, "id." used after an intervening cite, inconsistent case names, mismatched record cites.
4. Flag every direct quotation for word-for-word checking against the source.
5. Flag statements of law with no citation, and citations that seem to stretch the proposition (e.g. a broad claim resting on one case).
6. Flag anything that looks unusual and must be confirmed in a primary source and checked for subsequent history (overruled, reversed, amended statute).

Return: the verification table with a Status column left blank for the checker, a list of format corrections, and a list of [VERIFY FIRST] high-priority items. Every citation must be checked in an authoritative legal database by a qualified person before filing.
```

## What to fill in

- PASTE
- e.g. Bluebook, local court rules, OSCOLA
- DETAILS
- e.g. "Ex. 12", "App. 45", "ECF No. 30"
- VERIFY FIRST

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.