Wednesday, August 31, 2011

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)

Monday, August 22, 2011

Top Three Do's and Don'ts for Taking Notes

Top Three Do's and Don'ts for Taking Notes

Don’ts
1. Don't write down everything the Professor and students have to say. Remember this is NOT college. We do not require you to regurgitate, word for word, the professor’s brilliant speeches - we want you to solve problems.

2. Don't, on the other hand, space out and not take a single note. Last year, we had a student who did not do very well his first semester. We had occasion to observe him in class where he spent most of his time, reading his cases. He didn't take a single note during the entire 50 minutes!

3. Do try to separate out the relevant information from the irrelevant. What is relevant? Think back to IRAC (Issue Rule Application Conclusion) - we want to continually focus on IRAC as our problem solving technique - therefore you should take notes in three general categories:

Dos
Case Brief - During class most professors will take you through each case and in that process they are taking you through the legal problem solving method - FIRAC (Facts, Issue Rule Application) or IRAC (Issue Rule Application Conclusion). At this time you want to correct your case brief - your brief is your attempt to understand how the court solved the problem in that case - your first order of business should be to check your brief for mistakes. Make sure you identified the relevant facts. Did you include too many facts? Too little? Did you get the correct issue? Rule? Listen for statements made in class that explain or define the rules in your brief. The note might be a better statement of the rule, or a new rule that has developed since your case. Were you able to identify the court's rationale (and understand the application)? Be harsh on yourself. Do not say, well, that's not quite it, but I was close. Precision matters in law school. Listen closely and edit your brief extensively.

Hypotheticals and examples - After discussing a case, your professor may change the facts or present a hypothetical situation - if so you want to write this information down. Hypos are additional examples of how to solve problems using IRAC - when the facts change or when you are given a new set of facts; you need to go through IRAC to solve the problem. Here the issue and the rule may be the same (as the one discussed in the case at hand) but the application or reasons why the outcome is the way it is will be different (because of the difference in the facts). Hypos and the reasoning or rationale are examples of the application part of IRAC and you should write these down to study later for the exam. Again, the law school exam does not test you on whether you really remember a case inside and out. Instead, it will test your ability to take a rule you've learned and apply it to different facts. So, when your Professor poses hypotheticals, she's doing just that - she's taking the rule you learned in a case and is asking you to apply it to a different set of facts. You should treat hypotheticals like mini-exam-like questions posed by your professor. All hypos should be written down.

Other stuff
Magic words. Some legal concepts, which take many words to explain, can be summed up in one word or phrase, for example, proximate cause or constructive eviction. When you hear one of these words or phrases used in class, write it down. These are magic words. They can be legal terms of art (res ipsa loquitor) or terms a professor uses to refer to a concept (victimless crimes). You will get points on the exam if you know what these terms mean and can use them correctly. So write them down and look them up later if you need to.



Review. Some professors begin or end the class with a summary of what happened last time. WRITE THIS DOWN. This review will be an invaluable guide to how the Prof. wants a problem to be analyzed. ORDER MATTERS. Legal analysis is very orderly. Elements must not only be analyzed separately, but in a certain order. Make sure you know both the elements, and the order of analysis.



Other Stuff (there is always more). Finally, the professor may also discuss different topics that seem unrelated to the case. These include things like social policy, insurance concerns (who pays for what) or whether this issue should be decided by the courts or the legislature. In these instances you need to stay focused and try to think - how does this relate to IRAC - how can this information help me solve another legal problem in the future (i.e. on the exam)? Does this information concern the rule? Will social policy change the rule? Does it concern the application of the rule? Are there other reasons, besides the facts, that should make the court find differently? You should think about this information, jot it down and try to make some connection to IRAC and the problem solving method.

By Charlotte D. Taylor, Assistant Dean for Student Services at Touro Law and co-author of Bridging the Gap Between College and Law School: Strategies for Success (Carolina Academic Press 2001, 2009)

Thursday, August 11, 2011

First Year Teaching Assistant Program

Welcome to Touro (and welcome back to the TAs). We plan to have the Teaching Assistant program fully in place, and with sessions to begin the first week of classes. Below are dates and administrative matters that will help the Teaching Assistant program run smoothly during orientation and the first weeks of school:

We will have a table set up during Orientation for First Years to sign up for TA sections - please look for us and make sure to stop by on Sunday, August 14th or Monday, August 15th to sign up. Also, make sure to purchase Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus' book, Mastering the Law School Exam (Thomson West 2006), when you purchase your books - Mastering the Law School Exam will be used during the TA sessions.

An email will be sent to all First Year students on Sunday, August 21st confirming your TA session - the email will include your TA's name and email, the time you will meet, and the respective room number. Please make sure to check your Touro email account for this information; TA sessions will begin on Monday, August 22nd.

Enjoy the last days of summer, and we look forward to working with you this semester!


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Time Management for 1Ls - 2011 Law School Planner

It is important to develop good time management skills early in your law school career --- and there is no better time to do so than at the very beginning. The first few weeks of law school can seem overwhelming as you learn to balance all the competing demands on your time. A calendar can help you manage these demands by letting you schedule day-to-day tasks and plan for long-term assignments and exams.

You can use Touro’s Law School Planner from your orientation materials to help you navigate these first few weeks of law school. The Planner is meant to be a guide --- one which you can and should adapt to your own study needs. Since you are new to law school, we have made some suggestions and identified some specific tasks and suggested time allocations. The time frames are meant to be general guidelines only and it is very likely that your individual needs will vary. However, by keeping track of how long it takes you to complete an assignment, you will gain a better understanding of how much time to allocate to different study activities.

The Law School Planner covers several weeks: the week before Orientation, the week of Orientation, and the first full week of class. Please pay attention to the page headings, especially with respect to the first week of class and select the calendar for your particular class section. There are three day sections and one evening section. There is also a blank planner for you to make your own schedule.

We believe the Planner will be helpful as you begin your law school career. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to stop by and see us in Room 314. We are here to assist you.