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Briefing cases is good practice for thinking like a lawyer, analyzing hypotheticals on exams, and arguing case precedent in your professional practice. When you brief a instance, you are dissecting a judicial opinion and providing a summary of the basic components of that instance.[1] I of the biggest challenges when briefing a case is parsing an overabundance of information for the virtually of import details. When tasked with conference case law, you will need to be able to place the fabric facts of the case to sympathise and explain the courtroom'southward ruling.

  1. one

    Read the opinion once. Before you brief a legal opinion y'all should read through the whole case in one case. This will assist you empathize the overall story and volition give you an idea of what you will be looking for the next time around.

    • When you read the case, pay attending to any facts and highlight them as you become.

  2. 2

    Create a heading. Yous will ever kickoff your example brief with a heading, which will include the case'south identifying information. This information will make your cursory easily identifiable and will help you incorporate a citation into a slice of work down the road. Everything you need for the heading can be found near the kickoff of the judicial opinion.

    • In general, your heading will always include the:
      • Instance proper name;
      • Courtroom proper noun;
      • Date of decision; and
      • The page number where the example appears in the applicable reporter.[ii]
    • Attempt and create a heading that conforms to a legal commendation manual (e.yard., the Bluebook or ALWD Transmission). For example, you might try using a heading that looks similar this: Roe five. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
      • Inside that commendation is the example name, the court name, the date of decision, and the folio numbers where information technology can be found.

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  3. 3

    Explain the procedural history. The procedural history of a case is its disposition in lower courts.[3] For this section of your cursory, you will desire to explain how the case got to the court whose stance you are now briefing.[4] Be sure you include the decisions of the lower courts (i.e., who won and why), the damages that were awarded, and who appealed and why.[5] The procedural history can usually be constitute near the beginning of a judicial opinion when the estimate discusses the facts and issues of the case.

    • For example, if you are explaining the procedural history of Roe five. Wade, you lot might country that the United States Commune Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled the Texas abortion statute unconstitutional and there was a direct appeal by Texas to the United States Supreme Courtroom.

  4. 4

    Identify the issues of the case. When you lot identify the event of a instance, you will need to include a statement of the bespeak of police in dispute.[six] This statement should be in the form of a question. The consequence of a case is often stated explicitly by the courtroom writing the opinion, but sometimes you may have to tease the result out.[7]

    • For example, the issue in Roe v. Wade might be stated similar this: Does the Texas abortion statute violate the 9th Amendment to the United States Constitution?

  5. five

    Include the court'due south belongings. The holding of a instance is a statement of law that directly answers the question posed in the issue.[viii] This is the bulk's bones answer to the legal question and should include the vote count if there is ane.

    • For case, the property of Roe v. Wade is: (Vote: seven-2) Yep: The Texas statute is unconstitutional considering the Constitution and the Ninth Amendment recognizes the right to an ballgame.

  6. 6

    Ascertain the rule of law. This is the rule the courtroom applies to determine the holding of the case.[9] The rule could come from a statute, judicial opinion, or regulation.[ten] While the rule may be explicitly stated in the opinion, it may also exist implied.[11]

    • In Roe 5. Wade, the rule of police is the test used to reach the holding, which was that the Texas statute was unconstitutional. In that case, the dominion of constabulary was announced that during the first trimester of pregnancy, most abortion regulations would exist invalid. During the second trimester of pregnancy, some regulations may be okay. During the third trimester, abortions can be outlawed.

  7. 7

    Describe the court's reasoning. The reasoning is how the court applies the rule to a detail ready of facts.[12] This section is extremely important when you lot are trying to place the cloth facts of a case. If you can correctly identify a court's reasoning, yous will exist able to rapidly find the important facts likewise.

    • Within the reasoning, a court will explain the particular facts of the case that lead them to use the police they did and to decide the outcome the way they did.
    • For example, in Roe v. Wade, the courtroom reasoned that a woman has a privacy right, also as an involvement in avoiding concrete and psychological impairment, and therefore abortions cannot exist outright denied. The court further stated that while the state of Texas had legitimate interests in banning abortions, those interests had to exist counterbalanced with the interests and rights of the female. As a pregnancy progresses, the interests of the state go stronger.
      • This reasoning gives you clues to what some fabric facts might be. For example, the fact that Texas' ballgame law was an absolute prohibition is material. This is the case because the courtroom concludes that while Texas has interests, they have to be balanced. Put a different way, if Texas' law would take allowed abortions in some circumstances, perhaps the case would have turned out differently.

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  1. i

    Sympathise what a cloth fact is. A "material fact" is a fact that is crucial to the conclusion of an event at mitt. [13] Without this particular fact, the courtroom'south conclusion of the event would accept been unlike.

    • Fabric facts tin also be thought of as those facts which a political party would utilize to show his or her instance.[14]
    • Think near who the parties are, what their dispute is, and how they got to where they are.

  2. 2

    Continue in mind the particular subject yous are concerned with. Case briefing helps you lot put cases in context.[15] However, cases are rarely merely about a unmarried issue. The courtroom's opinion may cover more issues than are relevant to the subject upon which you are focused. This additional data tin distract you from the purpose of your consignment.

    • For example, if yous are conference a example for your contracts class virtually an office lottery pool, you will want to focus on what the court says about the understanding between the parties, and pay less attention to what the courtroom says most the tax consequences to the lottery winners.

  3. 3

    Read the facts of the case. The court's opinion normally has a recitation of the facts near the beginning. This section tells the story prior to the presentation of the analysis of the facts and applicable law. Although you cannot exist certain which facts the court considered cloth until you accept finished reading, highlight or take annotation of the facts that seem most important to you every bit you read.

  4. 4

    Determine how each fact fits in. To do this, look through the case and determine how each fact affects the holding and reasoning of the opinion. If a particular fact affects the holding or reasoning, then it should be considered cloth. If, on the other paw, a fact does not take any begetting on the belongings or reasoning, you tin can safely assume it is non a material fact.

    • You lot should brief your entire case before determining the material facts for this reason. If you lot know the holding and the reasoning, yous will be able to ameliorate clarify the facts.
    • In general, if a fact is brought upwardly in the reasoning of a instance, it is probable going to be a cloth fact.
    • For instance, in Roe v. Wade, ask yourself how the fact that the Texas statute outlawed all abortions affects the holding and reasoning of the case.

  5. 5

    Identify the fabric facts. For each factual item, ask yourself, "If this fact were inverse, would the outcome of the example be dissimilar?" This helps you dissever the material facts from immaterial background data and explain why the court reached the conclusion that information technology did.

    • Instance A: The plaintiff emailed a contract to the defendant. The plaintiff and defendant disagree on specific terms of the contract. Thus, the method of sending the contract is not a fabric fact, because the method of transmission does not bear upon the court's interpretation of the terms of the contract.
    • Example B: The plaintiff emailed a contract to the accused. The accused refuses to perform because the contract did not arrive in time. Plaintiff sues for nonperformance. Now the method of sending the contract is a material fact, considering the details of the method of transmission, whether by email, mail, etc., is necessary for the court determine whether the contract arrived in time.

  6. half dozen

    Create a argument of facts to include in your brief. When you include your argument of facts in your case brief, identify the parties and their relationship and identify the material facts of the case.[xvi] Try writing the statement of facts in chronological society so as to create a mini story of the important pieces of the case.

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  • Highlight your case as you lot read.[17] Highlighting the facts, among other sections, makes it easier to return and review them later.

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  • Laura Fougere

    Laura Fougere

    Dec 25, 2017

    "The article was helpful with suggestions for sifting through facts that are relevant or irrelevant."

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