UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
                     School of Law (Boalt Hall)
                   Berkeley, California 94720-7210

                           March 12, 1997 
 
ABA Citation Resolution 
Administrative Office of the United States Courts 
Thurgood Marshall Federal Judicial Building 
#1 Columbus Circle 
Suite 4-512 
Washington, D.C. 20002 
 
(I was told on the telephone that the above was the correct address 
for Federal Express submissions) 
 
Attention: Joan Countryman 
 
     In response to the February 12, 1997 Federal Register request 
for comments concerning the ABA Citation Resolution I would like to 
submit the enclosed article (10 copies included) for your 
consideration. The article was published in Volume 83, No. 2 of the 
California Law Review and is entitled "On Not Throwing Out The Baby: 
Planning the Future of Legal Information." In the article I state 
my views on the question of using vendor neutral citation. Rather 
than restate the article's points let me just summarize the points 
that I think the committee should consider. 
 
     First, the vast majority of individuals who need access to 
federal judicial opinions do not have access to electronic 
information, and any plan should contemplate continued paper 
products. 
 
     Second, the need for some central repository of the edited, 
quality controlled information remains. For many years the courts 
have relied on private publishers to serve this function. It is 
neither simple nor inexpensive to provide the editing and quality 
control necessary to accomplish this task. Revisions to opinions, 
changes to opinions etc. present genuine challenges. 
 
     Third, if there is only a paragraph citation required, it may be 
impossible to ascertain what information the person using the 
citation was looking at when he or she read it. 
 
     Fourth, the current system of distributing information works 
very well. Before it is modified extensively, there must be pressing 
reasons to do so. Many small publishers are innovating right now. 
When new and better information systems develop, they will pull 
citation systems to follow them. It is dangerous to mandate a new 
citation system which depends on non-existent tools. Let the market 
sort this out as it always has in the past. 
 
                                   Yours sincerely, 
 
                                   Robert C. Berring 
                                   Walter Perry Johnson 
                                   Professor of Law and Law Librarian