When abbreviating academic degrees, do NOT use periods. This is a distinct feature of the Law School style.

• BA, BS, LLM, MA, MS, MBA, ML, MSW, MPhil, PhD, DPhil, etc.

Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree or master’s degree (or when referring to a bachelor’s or a master’s), but no apostrophe for Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Master of Science, etc. Do not capitalize the word “doctorate.”

Use “Development & Alumni Relations Office” (commonly abbreviated in internal communications as DAR) when referring to this department of the Law School.

The names of JD alumni should be followed with an L’ + the year of graduation. Ensure the apostrophe curves down and to the left, if the font being used has two apostrophes. Treat the L’XX as part of the person’s name for punctuation and hyperlink purposes.

• Jane Smith L’01, a professor at Yale Law, spoke today on human rights issues in China.

Other Penn Carey Law and Penn alumni abbreviations include:

• LLM’XX: Master of Laws
• ML’XX: Master in Law
• SJD’XX: Law, doctorate
• C’XX: College of Arts & Sciences, undergraduate
• G’XX: College of Arts & Sciences, master’s 
• PhD’XX: College of Arts & Sciences, doctorate
• W’XX: Wharton School, undergraduate
• WG’XX: Wharton School, MBA or master’s in international relations
• GrW’XX: Wharton, doctorate
• Ed’XX: Education, undergraduate
• GEd’XX: Education, master’s
• GrEd’XX: Education, doctorate
• LPS’XX: Liberal & Professional Studies
• MBE’XX: Perelman, Master’s in Bioethics
• SP2’XX: Social Policy & Practice, master’s 
• Hon’XX: honorary

For degrees not listed here, please consult this list.

If you need further guidance on designating a Penn degree, please contact the Office of Communications.

If a person has multiple degrees from Penn, they should be separated with commas in ascending date order. If there are two degrees earned in the same year and one is from the Law School, the Law School degree is listed first.

• Jane Smith C’97, L’01, WG’01

Always lowercase a.m. and p.m. Do not omit the periods.

Unless the article is written out with a full Bluebook citation, titles of scholarly articles should be placed within quotes.

On the second reference, the following centers, institutes, and programs can be shortened using their respective abbreviations:

• Center for Asian Law (CAL)
• Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition (CTIC)
• Criminal Law Research Group (CLRG)
• Future of the Profession Initiative (FPI)
• Global Women’s Leadership Project (GWLP)
• Institute for Law & Economics (ILE)
• Penn Program on Regulation (PPR)
• The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice (The Quattrone Center)
• Toll Public Interest Center (TPIC)

Names of courses should be inside quotation marks.

“ESG: Environmental, Social, and Governance Initiatives” is taught by Presidential Professor Lisa Fairfax.

Use Washington, D.C., (commas both before and after D.C.) when referring to the nation’s capital in body copy, but use the postal code abbreviation in captions, tables, lists, etc.

• For example:
  This year’s Government Research Seminar visited Washington, D.C., to meet with legislators and policy experts.
• Jim Smith L’17; Hometown: Washington, DC

En dashes are slightly longer than hyphens (it’s difficult to tell them apart) and they are only used to indicate inclusive ranges, most often between numbers (e.g. pages 150–155).

There are two ways to make an en dash:

• Make a single space, two hyphens, then another space. When you start typing again, the
• hyphens will become an en dash
• Hold the Ctrl key, then press the minus key on the number pad. (Option + minus key on a Mac.)

N.B. Make sure your en dashes are not hyphens or em dashes. It’s very easy to confuse them.

Em dashes are the longest dashes. They are used most often to set off parenthetical phrases or to indicate a break or interruption. We abide by the Chicago Style for em dashes, which calls for no spaces before and after the em dash.

There are two ways to make an em dash:

• Type a word, then type two hyphens, then begin typing the next word. The hyphens will
• automatically become an em dash.
• Hold the Ctrl key and the Alt key, then press the minus key on the number pad. (Option + Shift
• + minus on a Mac.)

N.B. It’s very easy to confuse em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens. Make sure you’re using the one you intend.

Hyphens should be used to join words, or to join prefixes with words. For questions about which words use hyphenated forms, use the first listed entry in Webster’s New World College Dictionary.

N.B. Be careful not to use a hyphen in place of an em dash.

When listing jobs in viewbooks or brochures, use the following format: Position name, Firm or Company (City, State abbreviation).

• Andrea Anderson L’13
  BA 2008 Haverford
  Associate, Pepper Hamilton LLP (Philadelphia, PA)

On first mention, refer to judges as “the Honorable [FirstName] [LastName]” followed by alumni year, if applicable. On subsequent mentions, shorten to “Judge [LastName] or “Justice [LastName].”

• The Honorable Jane Doe recently gave a lecture at the Law School regarding ethics in today’s criminal justice system. Judge Doe was appointed to the X Circuit Court of Appeals in 1985.

Latin honors should be italicized and in lowercase.

• She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University.

In body copy, spell out numbers under 10. Spell out numbers over 10 only if they are the first word of a sentence.

• Yesterday, 25 students attended the guest lecture.
• Forty years ago, Philadelphia celebrated its bicentennial.

When used to denote a person’s job title, capitalize the first letter of Partner, Associate, Senior Partner, Managing Partner, Principal, etc.

When used to refer to someone generally who holds that position, the word should be lowercase.

Correct: Jane Doe is a Partner at Law Firm Name.
Correct: A partner assigned a particular task.

On first mention, use faculty’s full title – including a specific named professorship or fellow title if applicable; the title can either come before the name or in a parenthetical immediately following the name. On subsequent mentions, shorten to “[LastName].” The same goes for adjuncts, lecturers, fellows, etc.

• Dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law Sophia Z. Lee delivered a lecture to students on emerging legal questions in administrative and constitutional law. Lee, a prominent legal historian, uses history to place the law in broader context and examine how the law’s past can shed light on its future.
• Sophia Z. Lee, Dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law, delivered a lecture to students on emerging legal questions in administrative and constitutional law. Lee, a prominent legal historian, uses history to place the law in broader context and examine how the law’s past can shed light on its future.

“They” is the preference over “she” or “he,” in situations when pronouns are not known. However, we strongly recommend obtaining pronouns prior to finalizing your writing to ensure all third person references are accurate and affirming. The Penn Carey Law Directory strives to list pronouns, so please consult.

When quoting, the verb of the person quoted should be past tense. She said (not says).

• “The Legislative Clinic provides a hands-on experience for students interested in the formation of public policy and assisting in legislative solutions to problems that confront the nation and localities,” said Rulli.

Spell out state names in body copy. When necessary (for lists, tables, captions, etc.), abbreviate states by their postal

code, not their AP Style abbreviation. See also: District of Columbia.

• • Joe Smith L’17
    Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

One space after a period — never, ever two spaces. Text must have a single space between sentences before it can be used by our graphic designers.

When listing degrees held by students, alumni, or faculty, use the commonly accepted short form of a university or college name if the text appears outside of body copy (tables, lists, charts, etc.), or if it is otherwise appropriate to use the shortened form.

The University of Pennsylvania can be listed as Penn; Harvard University can be listed as Harvard; the University of Chicago can be listed as Chicago; the University of California-Berkeley can be listed as Berkeley; Oberlin College can be listed as Oberlin; etc. If ambiguities arise from using a shortened form (e.g. if someone attended Columbia University for law school and Columbia College in Chicago for undergrad), use each institution’s full name.

“School” should be omitted from other law school names, e.g., Harvard Law, Yale Law.

United States is abbreviated as U.S. (not US) when used as a modifier. Use the abbreviation U.S. as a noun only if demanded by severe space limitations.

• correct:
  He’s teaching a class on U.S. legal theory.
• avoid:
  He’s visiting the US for the first time this spring.