If you're a law student, you need to learn brief cases. You'll need to brief cases to prepare for every law school class. No matter what class you're preparing for, the basic parts of a case brief are the same, and the basic information you need to take away from reading a case is the same.
Instructions
Orient Yourself
1. Orient yourself to where you are in a particular law school course before you jump into briefing a case.
2. Look at the table of contents in your casebook to help you understand why you're reading a particular case. For example, perhaps the case has to do with a simple tort, like assault and battery or maybe it falls under negligence in torts.
3. Review your professor's course syllabus when you are about to read a case. See what heading the case falls under on the syllabus. This will help you understand why you're reading the case and what your professor wants you to take away from it.
Read Actively
4. Know what you're looking for. The important parts of a case include the name of the case, the page in the casebook (or the citation if it's a full case), the procedural history, the facts, the legal issue or issues raised in the case, the court's holding, the court's reasoning and the disposition.
5. Devise a strategy that works for you in reading and briefing cases. Determine if you will write the brief by hand or on your computer. Decide if you will color code the parts of a brief to help you find them in your casebook in addition to writing the brief out separately.
6. Read the case once while underlining or highlighting the important parts. Get a feel for what you think is going on in the case.
7. Identify the parties, the name of the case, the page in your casebook or the citation, as well as the disposition as you read the case the first time. Also identify where in the case you think the court lays out the procedural history, the facts, the issue(s), the holding and the reasoning.
8. Write your brief as you go through the case a second time. Write a case brief that includes all the necessary parts, making sure you understand what happened in the case (the facts), what legal issues were raised by the case, what the court decided (holding) and why (reasoning).
9. Ask yourself what the case stands for after you finish your brief. Determine what rule or rules the court enunciated in the case. For example, perhaps the court has stated a general rule in its reasoning that a completed gift requires intent, delivery and acceptance. Also ask yourself what new rule comes out of the case, if any.
Tags: case what, your casebook, away from, brief cases, case example
