Getting Started with AGLC4
What AGLC4 is, how footnotes work, and the conventions that apply to every citation you write.
If you’re studying law in Australia, chances are you’ll be using the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC4). It is the citation style used by almost every Australian law school, many courts, and most Australian legal journals.
Unlike referencing styles such as APA or Harvard, AGLC relies primarily on footnotes rather than in-text citations. Those footnotes tell your reader exactly where your information came from and allow them to locate the original source.
This guide follows the 4th edition of the AGLC, published in 2018.
How AGLC works
Most legal writing contains three parts:
- Superscript numbers in the text that point the reader to a footnote.
- Footnotes, which contain the full citation for each source.
- A bibliography, which lists all of the sources used in your paper (if your university requires one).
Tip: not every law school requires a bibliography. Always check your unit guide before you start writing.
Footnotes
Footnotes are the foundation of AGLC.
You should include a footnote whenever you:
- quote a source;
- paraphrase or summarise someone else’s work;
- rely on a source for a fact;
- state a legal principle; or
- refer to legislation, a case or another authority.
A reader should be able to look at your footnote and immediately find the authority supporting what you’ve written.
Where does the footnote number go?
Usually, the superscript number goes after the punctuation at the end of the sentence.
If the footnote only supports part of a sentence, place the footnote number immediately after that part.
General footnote conventions
The first time you cite a source, provide the full citation.
If you cite the same source again later, use a shortened citation or Ibid. See the guide on repeat citations, Ibid and short titles.
When writing footnotes, remember these general rules:
- Write authors’ names exactly as they appear in the source.
- Give the author’s first name before their surname.
- If there are two or three authors, list all of them.
- If there are four or more authors, list only the first author followed by et al.
- Don’t put spaces between initials (for example, PJ Smith, not P. J. Smith).
- Capitalise the first letter of all significant words in titles.
- Italicise the titles of cases, legislation, books and journals.
- End every footnote with a full stop.
Footnotes can also be used for brief explanatory comments that would interrupt the flow of the main text.
More than one source in a footnote
Sometimes a single statement is supported by more than one authority.
In that case:
- list the strongest authority first;
- separate each citation with a semicolon (;); and
- don’t use and before the final source.
Using introductory signals
If different sources have different relationships to your statement, introduce each group with an appropriate signal.
Each new signal begins a new sentence within the same footnote.
Repeating the same source within one footnote
If you refer to the same source again later in the same footnote, don’t repeat the entire citation.
Instead, use at followed by the new pinpoint.
Introductory signals
Most citations don’t need an introductory signal.
If the source directly supports the proposition in your text, simply cite it.
Signals are used when the relationship between your statement and the source is less direct. Some of the most common signals are:
- See
- The source supports the statement but doesn’t say it directly.
- See, eg,
- One example among several supporting authorities.
- See also
- Additional supporting authority.
- See especially
- The strongest supporting authority.
- See generally
- General background reading.
- Cf
- Compare with another authority.
- But see
- The authority reaches a different conclusion.
Square brackets and round brackets
One of the first things students notice is that case citations sometimes use square brackets and sometimes round brackets around the year.
This isn’t a stylistic choice. It tells you how the law report series is organised.
Square brackets [ ]
Use square brackets when the report series is organised by year.
Because the volumes restart every year, the year is needed to find the case.
Round brackets ( )
Use round brackets when the report series is organised by volume number.
The year is included for information only and isn’t needed to locate the case.
Other uses of square brackets
You’ll also see square brackets used for:
- paragraph numbers (for example, [57]);
- distinguishing multiple proceedings ([No 2]); and
- additions or alterations within quotations.
Group authors
Not every source has an individual author.
Government departments, law reform commissions, companies and other organisations are cited using the organisation’s name as the author.
If the organisation is a government body and its jurisdiction isn’t obvious from its name, include the jurisdiction in brackets.
If an individual wrote the document on behalf of an organisation, cite both the individual and the organisation.
Legal abbreviations
AGLC uses abbreviations throughout legal citations.
The most common abbreviations are used for:
- law report series (for example, CLR);
- courts in medium neutral citations (for example, HCA);
- Australian jurisdictions (for example, NSW and Cth); and
- legislative pinpoint references (such as s, pt, div and sch).
If you’re unsure what an abbreviation means, the Pincite Abbreviations Index lets you search both ways. You can look up either the abbreviation or the full name.
Last reviewed 4 August 2026