Output Source Attribution Block

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:

---

## Sources

1. UAE Federal Decree-Law 33/2021 (Regulation of Labour Relations) — arts 10, 43, 51
2. Cabinet Decision 1/2022 (Implementing Regulations — Non-Compete)
3. Khoury v. Acme [2024] DIFC CFI 47 at [23]–[31] (non-compete proportionality)
4. SAMA AML Rules 2024 — section 4.2
5. Nayla Comair-Obeid, "Contracts in Arab Countries," Bruylant (2013), p. 214
6. [[kb-employment-law-uae]] — Louis Skills Library (internal reference)

Source categories

Include sources in this order:

1. Primary sources — statutes and regulations

One line per instrument. Include:

• Full official name of the statute or regulation
• Jurisdiction
• Specific articles or sections relied on
• If a regulation implements a statute, list the statute first then the regulation

Examples:

• UAE Federal Decree-Law 33/2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations — art 10(1), 43
• Saudi Labor Law Royal Decree M/51 — arts 80, 83
• Lebanese Labor Code (Law of 23 September 1946, as amended) — art 50
• DIFC Contract Law (DIFC Law 6/2004) — art 86
• Egypt Civil Code (Law 131/1948) — art 147(2)

2. Primary sources — cases

One line per case. Include:

• Full case name
• Citation with court and year
• Pin-cite to the specific paragraph or page
• Brief parenthetical explaining the proposition the case supports

Examples:

• Khoury v. Acme [2024] DIFC CFI 47 at [23] (proportionality test for non-competes)
• Cavendish Square Holding BV v. Makdessi [2015] UKSC 67 at [32] (penalty clause doctrine)
• Cass. soc., 10 juill. 2002, n° 99-43.334 (non-compete consideration requirement)

3. Regulatory instruments and official guidance

Circulars, decisions, guidance notes, and enforcement policies:

• SAMA AML Rules 2024, section 4.2
• DFSA Rulebook — COB Module, Rule 7.2.1
• UAE Central Bank Circular 2/2023 on BNPL Licensing

4. Secondary sources

Treatises, leading academic commentaries, and top-tier legal publications. Include author, title, publisher, year, and page/section:

• Nayla Comair-Obeid, "Contracts in Arab Countries," Bruylant (2013), p. 214
• Practical Law, "Non-Compete Clauses in UAE Law" (Thomson Reuters 2024)

Only include secondary sources from recognised authorities. AI-generated text is not a secondary source.

5. Internal references

Cross-references to the skills library or internal knowledge base:

• [[kb-employment-law-uae]] — Louis Skills Library
• [Prior Advice Note, Matter Ref. HAQQ-2024-0023, 15 March 2024]

Use the [[wikilink]] notation for internal skill cross-references so they are machine-navigable.

Verification rules — critical

Verify every citation before including it. This means:

• The statute or article number must actually exist and say what you claim it says
• Case citations must be real cases, not hallucinations
• If you cannot verify: write [citation needed — please verify before relying on this analysis]
• Mark uncertain sources explicitly: [unverified — source to be confirmed]

Reflective rule: only include sources that were actually used in the analysis. Do not pad the sources section with related authorities that were not cited.

No fabricated citations. A fabricated statute article or invented case name, if discovered by opposing counsel or a regulator, creates professional-responsibility exposure and destroys the credibility of the analysis. See the cite-or-bust rule in [[router-confidence-scorer]].

Sources vs footnotes

Two acceptable formats depending on the document:

End-list (preferred for MENA practice): all sources numbered at the end of the document, cited inline by number (source 3) or by parenthetical citation.

Footnotes (common-law tradition, UK/DIFC): each citation as a footnote at the bottom of the page. Harder to maintain in Markdown/DOCX; use if the audience expects footnotes.

See [[output-inline-citations-with-pinpoints]] for the inline citation format that pairs with this block.

Related skills

• [[output-inline-citations-with-pinpoints]]
• [[output-irac-structure]]
• [[output-partner-memo-style]]
• [[router-confidence-scorer]]