§ 1 The citation shuffle
Writing a brief means living in two windows: the research source and the draft. Every authority you want forces a context switch — find it, copy the cite, switch back, paste, switch again for the pin cite. Do that fifty times and the switching itself becomes the work.
§ 2 Build a citation stack
A clipboard manager lets you front-load the copying. As you read, copy each authority and pin cite you'll use; they queue in history. Then, in the draft, paste them by number with ⌘ + 1–⌘ + 9 in the order you need. You research in one pass and cite in another, instead of ping-ponging.
Copy in the library; paste in the brief. The clipboard becomes the bridge between research and writing.
§ 3 Keeping citations Bluebook-clean
Format the citation correctly once, copy the clean version, and reuse it — rather than re-deriving the format each time it appears. Pin a few id. and supra patterns and your short-form cites stay consistent. Paste as plain text so a copied cite doesn't import the source page's styling into your brief. Search helps too: with search across your clipboard history you can pull every copied authority back by a word from the case name.
None of this is a substitute for a citator or a cite-checker. It speeds the mechanical part — moving correct citations into place — so you can spend attention on substance.
§ 4 Frequently asked questions
How can I keep citations handy while writing a brief?
Copy each authority and pin cite as you research; they queue in your clipboard history. Then paste them into the draft by number, in order, without switching back to the research window each time.
Will a clipboard manager format Bluebook citations?
No — it stores and recalls text. Format a citation correctly once, then reuse the clean copy. Pin common short-form patterns to keep them consistent.
Does pasting a citation carry over formatting?
It can, unless you paste as plain text. Set your manager to paste plain text so a copied cite adopts your brief's styling instead of the source's.