Exciting News From COAL-RJAL!

2026 is already shaping up to be another big year for the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide – Guide canadien de la référence juridique en accès libre. Read on for recent milestones, new instruction materials, requests for feedback, and ways to get involved.

RJAL Launches

RJAL, the French version of COAL, was released in February 2026! It is now possible to use COAL-RJAL to cite legal materials when writing in both English and French, an important step in serving the legal community in both official languages. Read more on CanLII and Slaw.

Celebrating Our Early Adopters

We’ve been hearing from people across the country about how they are using COAL-RJAL already. We want to take this opportunity to celebrate COAL-RJAL’s early adopters, which include:

• Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan
• Court of King’s Bench for Saskatchewan
• Provincial Court of Saskatchewan
• Thompson Rivers University Law Journal
• Dalhousie Law Journal (accepts submissions using COAL)
• Classes at Queen’s University Law School, Thompson Rivers University Law School, Toronto Metropolitan University Law School, Université du Québec à Montréal, University of British Columbia Law School, University of Ottawa School of Information Studies, and the University of Windsor Law School.

Congratulations to these trailblazing courts, editorial boards, and professors for moving to a regularly updated legal citation guide that is responsive and available to all, with no financial barriers. Let us know if your class, journal, court, or organization is using or considering using COAL-RJAL! Email us at coal.rjal@ubc.ca.

New Interactive Tutorial to Learn and Practise COAL Citation Style

You asked for it, we made it: learn and practise COAL citation style with the brand new interactive tutorial, Practice Legal Citation with the Coal Guide. Like COAL-RJAL itself, it’s of course free and open to all.

Looking for Support in Adopting and Using COAL-RJAL?

You can find the new interactive tutorial, along with videos, PowerPoint slides, and other instructional materials that are, as always, free to use, at http://coal-rjal.ca/. If your organization is using or considering adopting COAL-RJAL and you would like us to give a presentation on the guide or answer any questions, we are happy to help!

Your Feedback Matters!

Your feedback continues to guide COAL-RJAL. Thank you. Please keep sending your feedback and suggestions.

Want to Get Involved?

If you would be interested in helping to add COAL-RJAL citation styles to Zotero and Jurism, we would love to hear from you.

All inquiries, feedback, and volunteer expressions of interest may be sent to coal.rjal@ubc.ca.