Source Attribution Block

A source attribution block is the end-of-document listing of every authority relied upon in a legal memorandum or research note. It does three things: it makes the analysis independently verifiable, it creates an audit trail for professional-responsibility purposes, and it lets the reader immediately see whether the analysis rests on primary law or inference.

When to use this

Append a Sources block whenever:

• The output is a formal memo, advice note, or legal opinion
• The output contains statute, case, or regulatory citations
• The analysis draws on more than one source
• The output may be forwarded to a client, filed with a regulator, or relied on by a third party

Omit the Sources block for:

• Purely conversational answers with no cited authority
• Quick triage answers where the single source is already stated inline

Standard pattern

Place the Sources block at the very end of the document, after the Recommendation section, separated by a horizontal rule: