Jessica R. Gunder

Author archives

Professor Jessica R. Gunder is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Idaho’s College of Law where she has taught a wide range of courses, including Civil Procedure, Professional Responsibility, Criminal Procedure, Lawyering Process, and Legal Writing. Before joining the University of Idaho, she served as a law clerk for the Honorable E. Richard Webber with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. She also was employed as a Trial Attorney with the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch where her responsibilities included advancing criminal and civil litigation related to the protection of public health and safety. Finally, she worked as an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Idaho, where she served as the Civil Division's Affirmative Civil Enforcement Coordinator and Civil Rights Coordinator.

YIKES! The Bluebook’s Generative AI Is Flawed

Despite its unpopularity and the availability of other citation manuals, The Bluebook remains widely used at many law schools to teach legal citation format to law students, and it is relied on by law reviews and courts. The twenty-second edition of The Bluebook was released in May 2025. This new edition includes a new rule—Rule 18.3—that crafts a citation format for legal writers to use when citing generative artificial intelligence (“AI”). This Book Review by Prof. Jessica R. Gunder proceeds in three parts. First, it examines the purpose of citations in legal writing and identifies circumstances in which the citation of generative AI output is appropriate. Second, it considers what The Bluebook requires of authors using generative AI technology and why The Bluebook’s requirements are inappropriate, focusing on: (1) errors within Rule 18.3 itself; (2) the unreasonable burden Rule 18.3 imposes; (3) Rule 18.3’s incompatibility with how generative AI technology is actually used; and (4) how the requirements imposed by Rule 18.3 violate attorney-client confidentiality requirements and work product protections. Third, and finally, it discusses why The Bluebook’s flawed approach matters and how it might be addressed.

Subjects: AI, Legal Ethics, Legal Profession, Legal Research, United States Law