HOW TO BRIEF A CASE

The cases that you will read in this course are, for the most part, the written opinions of appellate court judges explaining their decisions in a lawsuit. You can think of a court opinion as a short story of an incident in which a court acted to resolve a legal dispute. These opinions are a record of the court's decisions that will be used as precedents to provide authority or guidance in resolving future disputes.

Case briefing is an aid in reading and understanding court opinions. The process is actually a very familiar task -- it involves outlining and making notes about what you read, identifying the parts of the case and summarizing them. Case briefs will be useful to you in preparing for class and in studying for exams. After you have read a case, reread it, using the following format for briefing the case.

The case brief should succinct and should not exceed one-page.

1 . NAME OF CASE

2. FACTS

2. FACTS

Briefly summary the facts of the case. These are the "who," “what," "when," and "where" of the case. Describe the history of the case, including the events that led to the lawsuit, the claims and defenses of each party, and what happened in the trial court. Do not merely copy all of the facts verbatim; include only the important facts. Think: what were the facts that occurred that brought this matter to court. To decide which facts are important, ask yourself whether a particular fact helped to determine the judge's decision. If the answer is yes, include that fact in your brief. You can also ask whether the judge's decision would have been different if a particular fact was omitted or changed. If so, then it is important. You should also look for facts that are repeated at least once in the opinion.

3. ISSUE(S)

3. ISSUE(S)

What is the reason that the court is deciding the case? The issue is usually in the form of a question. This is a statement of the question(s) of law that must be answered so that the court can decide which party should win the lawsuit. Sometimes the judge will state the issue in the opinion. If so, then you can quote the court's statement of the issue directly from the opinion. In most cases, however, you will need to write your own statement of the issue. The issue should be expressed in the form of a question that can be answered by "yes" or "no." To make sure that your issue statements are written in the form of questions, begin them with "Whether," "Did," "Can," "Does, “Is," etc.

4. HOLDING(S)

4. HOLDING(S)

This is the conclusion of the court in the form of an answer to the question or issue of law. You should have a statement of the holding for each issue. The holding includes

the rule of law applied by the court to make its decision. Sometimes the opinion will specifically state the rule; in other cases it will be necessary for you to find a statement of the rule in the discussion: in the textbook. Write the holding so that it begins with "Yes" or "No," followed by the word "because." Doing this will ensure that you directly answer the question and provide a reason and rule for your answer.

5. REASONING

5. REASONING

The court must justify its conclusion by providing reasons for answering the issue in the way that it did. The reasoning is a summary that explains how the court reached its conclusion. The goal is to understand the case by explaining how the court used the rule of law to resolve the legal dispute. You must explain how the legal rule was applied to the facts of the case in writing this part of your brief.

After you have briefed the case, you should take a moment to critically evaluate the court's decision. Again, evaluate the COURT’S decision (do not give your reasoning, but the Court’s reasoning and rationales).
� Ask yourself whether you agree with the outcome of the case.
� Is the outcome fair in light of the facts and the law?
� Has the court considered all of the relevant facts?
� Why did the court deem a particular fact or set of facts controlling or significant?
� Do you agree with the court's reasoning?
� What is the likely impact of the decision in the business environment?
� What is the legal rule that was decisive in the case?
� How did the court apply the rules to the facts of this case to get its conclusion?
� Where did the court get the rule?
� What legal arguments did the court make?
� What policy reasons were important?
� What facts were significant?
� What larger issues was the court concerned about?

1 . NAME OF CASE

2. FACTS

3. ISSUE(S)

4. HOLDING(S)

5. REASONING

6. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW