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Briefing cases in law school is an essential process in obtaining a legal education. In law school, you are not given text books to study. You are given case books that are filled with appellate court legal opinions or case law. It is your job to digest and dissect the cases into case briefs and to essentially write your own text book.
Instructions
1. When briefing cases, understand the Socratic method of teaching. Your law professors will call upon students in class to question your knowledge of cases and to challenge your position on various issues. How you respond will depend on how well prepared you are to discuss the facts and the law of each case. It is therefore critical that you are organized and thorough in your understanding of the cases.
2. Start with the case name and citation at the top. Include parallel cites to official reporters and West reporters.
3. The first section is the case holding. The holding of the case are all necessary conclusions the court reached in disposing the case. Be careful not to confuse the holding with dicta. Dicta are ancillary conclusions or statements of law that are illustrative but not necessary for the disposition of the case and are not given precedential weight. If the case contains significant dicta on an important unanswered question of law, then that should be separately discussed. Some case brief formats include an issues section, but the issues are basically the holding in query format and is repetitive in my opinion.
4. The second section is the procedural posture of the case. The procedural posture or history of the case is a summary of the results of the trial court and the rulings of any intermediate appellate courts, as well as any remand. Also include the result of the case you are briefing to provide a discussion of the prevailing parties, judgments and appellants.
5. The third section is the facts of the case. Summarize the facts that are necessary to support the case holding. Include the names of the parties instead of referring to the parties as plaintiff and defendant.
6. The fourth section is the rule of law. Cite and quote the statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances and cases that the court relied upon in reaching its holding.
7. The last section is the court's analysis. Describe the court's reasoning in how it reached its holding, including the application of the case facts to the law. Also include a brief summary of any concurring or dissenting opinions, including the name of the judge and a brief summary of the opinion.
8. Strive to keep your brief as succinct as possible so that you are able to focus on the pertinent portions of the case. This will promote comprehension and retention to better enable you to prepare for classes and exams. Also, don't hesitate to alter the formula or the order of categories to better suit your learning preferences. Remember that the brief is your learning tool which is basically an outline and summary of court opinions.
Tags: Also include, brief summary, case holding, procedural posture, your learning