Bluebook Guide: Typeface for Court Documents

At the offset, The Bluebook provides strong direction regarding local rules as many courts have their own (at times different) citation rules.  New practitioners must make sure to abide by any citation requirements of the court to which they are submitting their documents.  

The Bluepages provide jurisdiction-specific citation rules and style guides.  BT2.1, pp. 30-60.

Notably, the Style Manual for the Supreme and Appellate Courts of Illinois provides guidance on grammar and mechanical conventions and citation styles. 

While the Bluepages lean towards the use of underscoring text, for case names in Illinois court documents, use italics.

The Bluepages suggest underscoring, but as a practical matter, underscoring is the equivalent of italics.  The Bluepages set forth general rules for underscoring or italicizing.  See B2, p. 6.

• Case names, including procedural phrases introducing case names
• Titles of books and articles
• Titles of some legislative materials
• Introductory signals
• Explanatory phrases introducing subsequent case history
• Cross references, such as id. and supra
• Words and phrases introducing related authority, such as "quoted in"

Additionally, the following information in the text of a court document should be underscored or italicized.

• Titles of publications, such as The New York Times
• Words italicized in the original source of a quotation
• Any other word that would otherwise be italicized, such as an uncommon foreign word

• Importantly, various courts provide jurisdiction-specific requirements for court documents. 
• The Bluepages provide jurisdiction-specific citation rules and style guides.  BT2.1, pp. 30-60.
• Notably, the Style Manual for the Supreme and Appellate Courts of Illinois provides guidance on grammar and mechanical conventions and citation styles. 
• For case names in Illinois court documents, use italics.