CASE BRIEFING

Case briefing is one of the first things you will learn to do in law school and one of the most important things. It is a way of summarizing the information found in a case opinion in a manner that allows a reader to quickly understand the most important and relevant points of the opinion without reading the whole opinion.

Students are exposed to case briefing in the first-week of law school, if not the first day. It is important that you begin briefing cases from the first-day you are in law school. It will be very time consuming if you what until the semester's end to brief. Additionally, doing so much briefing at the semester's end when finals are close will take away from precious study time.

A case brief's major components are:

Procedural History: The present case's legal history in the lower courts.

Facts: The facts relevant to the present issue or issues.

Issue: The question before the court.

Holding: The court's decision on the issue.

Reasoning: The legal reason the court used to support the holding.

Judgment: Appellate courts can affirm lower court decisions, reverse lower court decisions, or remand (send back) the case to the lower court with instructions.

The term "brief" is used in the law to describe more than one thing. In law school, whenever you hear the term "brief" it is most likely that a case brief is being referred to, and not a trial brief or appellate brief. A trial brief and appellate brief are persuasive legal arguments made to the court on the behalf of a client.

Below are a few websites that discuss case briefs.

• http://www.4lawschool.com/casebrief.htm
• http://www.cjed.com/brief.htm
• http://www.lawnerds.com/guide/briefing.html

Other related articles on this website include Learning in Law School and Outlines.

Good luck with case briefing!

If you have any questions or comments about this article, or want to write your own article about the pre-law or law school process, feel free to contact me.