Case Briefing

Several students have stopped by our offices or asked their TAs to go over how to brief cases for class. Students have asked what the purpose of briefing is, as well as why briefing is an important skill in the beginning of law school.

Your case briefs are summaries of the cases you have read for class, and will help you prepare for class. Briefing will help you develop the skill of extracting the law or rule from the cases you read, and will help you in developing the ability to be able to apply the rule of law to a different factual situation. You must engage in problem solving from the first weeks of school -- including determining what is important about each case.

Much like everything else in law school, there is not a one size fits all approach to briefing cases for your classes. The information below is just an overview or guide, and as you get acclimated with law school, you will be able to determine exactly what you need to include in your briefs.

Before you actually start your brief, you should determine the context of the case you are about to read (i.e. a torts case about assault), and determine whether the case is from a federal or state court. Having knowledge about the case you are reading will help you understand the context of material you are going to cover. Likewise, knowing which court (trial court, appellate court, etc.) decided the matter can give you information about what you are about to read -- for example, an appellate court might have to determine whether there was a legal mistake made by the lower court.

With this background, it is time to start your brief. One approach might be:

1. Write down the name of the case - you will want to be able to follow along in class, and identify the correct brief if you are called on in class.

2. Summarize the relevant facts of the case - focus on the substantively relevant facts, meaning focus on how you would explain the important facts (who, what, when, where, how) to your professor or to a jury, and include these facts here. Also, some of your professors might ask about a procedural history, and this should be included here, too.

3. Isolate the issue - in other words, what is the problem the court was asked to solve?

4. Articulate the rule(s) of the case - remember, rules of law can come from both statutes and other cases cited within the opinion. The court might even discuss rules in the decision that are not completely on point; focus on the rules that relate specifically to the issue(s) at hand.

5. Begin the application - this means you should know the reasoning, rationale, or the court's analysis of the case. In other words, why did the court decide the way it did? This section may even include multiple parts, including opinions from several judges.

6. State the holding - this is where you state the answer to your issue.

Finally, there is no such thing as perfection when writing your briefs - you should not be so concerned with the actual look of the brief - your classmates' briefs might look different than yours. You should only be concerned with the function with which your brief serves - the substance is more important than the form.

For more tips on briefing, you should see Dean Charlotte D. Taylor's book, Bridging the Gap Between College and Law School: Strategies for Success (Carolina Academic Press 2001, 2009)