Laura Geary

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Comment
Volume 89.4
The Exception to Rule 12(d): Incorporation by Reference of Matters Outside the Pleadings
Laura Geary
B.A. 2018, Swarthmore College; J.D. Candidate 2023, The University of Chicago Law School

I thank Professor William H.J. Hubbard for his expert guidance and thoughtful feedback as well as the editors of the University of Chicago Law Review

This Comment explores the history of Rule 12(d), describes courts’ varying uses of the exception, and proposes a unifying method of interpretation for the future. Drawing on other procedural rules and an analogous doctrine in contract law, it argues that only unmistakably referenced written instruments may be incorporated.