Richard G. Larsen
                                   319 South St. Asaph St.
                                   Alexandria, Virginia 22314

                                   March 14, 1997

ABA Citation Resolution
Suite 4-512,
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Washington, D.C. 200544 [sic]

Dear Sir or Madame:

     This letter is written to urge the immediate adoption of the 
ABA-endorsed new citation format.

     It is my understanding that 85% of the ABA House of Delegates 
voted for the implementation of this new system which will greatly 
facilitate doing research in an electronic format and will allow for 
an immediate available permanent citation. In addition, providing 
competition in the legal publishing industry will greatly reduce the 
costs for the legal community, judicial system and the public at 
large.

     Presently many of the federal and state courts are beginning to 
"publish" their opinions on the Internet and other electronic 
formats. This provides for an immediate distribution to potentially 
millions of interested parties with no delay in time nor any expense 
for printing, distribution, etc. It seems somewhat ludicrous that the 
Judicial system itself presently cannot assign the permanent citation 
at the time an opinion is published. Also, in today's electronic 
world, it is inappropriate to mandate that the official citation 
relates to page numbers, thus perpetuating an outdated, expensive and 
inefficient method of providing access to court decisions. By 
replacing the current citation system (over which a private party 
claims copyright ownership) with a system controlled by the Judicial 
system, will truly enable the case law of the country to be owned by 
the public. The present system of requiring the use of a citation 
system to which a private organization claims copyright ownership 
needs to be changed.

                                   Sincerely,

                                   Richard G. Larsen
                                   Member of the Virginia Bar