History of the Florida Style Manual

     The Florida Style Manual was first developed in 1985 by Floyd R. Self, the 1985 Legislative Editor, with help from the Florida State University Law Review Volume 15 Editorial Board. These editors realized that, under Bluebook standards, citations to many Florida-specific sources were incomprehensible. Moreover, other Florida sources were not addressed at all by The Bluebook. The first Manual was the product of these editors’ efforts to develop meaningful citation forms for Florida materials.

     The Manual requires regular updating to keep up with changes to source materials and the state government. Marjorie C. Makar coordinated its first revision, creating the 1991 edition Manual with the help of fellow volume 19 members.

     Stephanie L. Williams spearheaded the next revision as an editor of volume 22. Her revisions produced the 1995 edition Manual, which included citation forms for scholarly works as well as legal documents.

     James H. Wyman, Editor-in-Chief of volume 24, oversaw the next revision and released the fourth edition in 1997. The fourth edition further refined the Manual into a valuable reference tool for drafting both legal documents and scholarly works. The fourth edition also incorporated examples of proper citation forms using the two typefaces commonly employed in legal and scholarly writing.

     The fifth edition was published in 2002 by the staff of volume 29. One year later, the sixth edition was released. Edited by J.D. DuRant and Brooke Lewis of volume 30, the sixth edition updated the Manual to conform with the 17th edition Bluebook.

     The seventh edition was a coordinated effort by Rachel E. Nordby, Alyssa S. Lathrop, and Amanda L. Swindle – respectively the Editors-in-Chief for volumes 35, 36, and 37 – to make the Manual more user-friendly. While many substantive citation rules remained unchanged, the seventh edition’s substantially modified format improved function and readability. Additionally, the revision added the text of Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.800 to the Manual for convenient reference.

     Elisa M. Walker, Jacqueline A. Van Laningham, Patrick M. Bailey, and Donald L. Thomson –  respectively, the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Editors, and Managing Editor of volume 44 – produced the eighth edition. Their updates reconciled the Manual’s citation forms with advances in online research and the 20th edition of The Bluebook.

     Shortly thereafter, an eighth revision was needed to conform the Manual to an amended rule 9.800 and a new, 21st-edition Bluebook. Covid-era disruptions stalled initial efforts to revise the Manuel. In 2024, a temporary position—the Florida Style Manual Editor—was added to the editorial board of volume 52 to complete the revisions and produce the ninth edition FSM. Michael M. Bartnick served as editor, Kole A. Kolasa as Editor-in-Chief of volume 52.