Incorrect legal citations can trigger sanctions and undermine credibility

Evidence

Citations often demonstrate that a proposition has been thoroughly researched or that a principle of law is heavily supported by authority. But overusing citations for no substantive legal reason merely clouds your point. And incorrect citations can impair your credibility and call an argument’s validity into question—they may even lead to sanctions. Correct citations, on the other hand, can enhance your credibility by reflecting the care and attention to detail that went into preparing the document. — Bryan A. Garner, Jeff Newman, Tiger Jackson, The Redbook, 226

Categorization

• SEED: An article on how citation errors actually produce court sanctions could ground an otherwise abstract credibility warning in concrete cases.
• XREF: connects to: Footnote presence signals scholarly credibility to readers. — Bryan A. Garner, Jeff Newman, Tiger Jackson, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style,…, 247; Easily pirated reputational symbols lose credibility through overuse; Political repression forced publishers to accept personal criminal liability — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 796 (+1 more)

Related

• Footnote presence signals scholarly credibility to readers. (similarity 0.82)
• Easily pirated reputational symbols lose credibility through overuse (similarity 0.79)