What is a case brief example? Generally, this thing is a summarized court opinion. For students, case briefs help develop a better understanding of a decision as well as examining the issues in the case.
Other than that, a brief is commonly used for a self-study that requires an effective environment. No one wants to read a 100-pages-long verbatim at once. Thus, a brief will help to shorten and summarize those pages.
If writing a brief paper is a new thing for you, you can use the samples and templates provided somewhere on this site. Other than that, we will show you other things you should know before writing case briefs.
What Case Briefs Are for?
Before making or using a case brief example, you should know how to use this document. Typically, this document is made for law students. They commonly use it for their words. It is important to focus on the essential aspects when writing one. This would help to create a comprehensive yet complete summary.
For outlining
Case briefs are also important to start advanced studies and research. This helps in integrating all information so you achieve a better understanding. The process is called outlining.
For classes
The most common reason why law students need to make a brief is for class preparations. They learn about a lot of different cases. Having some case briefs would help them to extract essential information and stay organized. Other than that, students could read the case much easier.
For research and legal writings
Case briefs are also needed when it comes to creating legal writing and research. Law students may get a specific class to learn about this legal writing thing. The course includes a lot of making briefs. Thus, anyone can extract essential yet crucial information to complete legal arguments properly.
These are the most common areas that use case briefs, especially for law students. Components needed to make briefs can be seen below.
How to Make Case Brief
Of course, you can always use a case brief template for various purposes. However, if you plan to write your own, there are several things you need to fulfill. These components are essential when it comes to writing case briefs.
The parties
The parties involved are essential components in case briefs. You can state it by name or titles according to the role in the case you are working on. Some people use both names and titles to make them more specific.
Court Name
The next thing that should be presented in the brief document is the court where the hearing was taken. Some different courts that can hear cases are such as an intermediate appellate court, supreme court, federal court, and state court.
Citation and the date
The citation contains information about where the case was published. Make sure you include that information on your brief. It helps the readers to find the original file. Other than the citation, the date where the case was decided should be stated as well. It helps to trace the development of the legal issue.
Procedural history
Under the procedural history section, you need to put how the case arrived at the current court, the events during the proceeding, and different courts where the cases were heard.
Issues and facts
The issues can be found by referring to the table of contents. Meanwhile, you also need to include all facts along with the context. It helps to understand the essential facts of the case.
Holding and reasoning
Holding is the answer to all questions asked during the case being heard. Meanwhile, the reasoning is what you establish after getting the locations where the court puts the different facts. When writing this section, make sure you write with your words so you understand anything about it more clearly.
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Tips on Writing a Case Brief
When it comes to writing a case brief, there are several aspects you need to understand thoroughly. You can start by outlining all facts that would give a significant impact on the case. Facts are the most basic information you should include in the brief.
Recording anything would be helping a lot as well. This process helps you to get to know the case much closer. Once the main issues are put together, make questions, and answer them with “yes or no” only.
Black letter law should be part of your brief too. This is about the rule of the principle being used in the case; you decide the rule. Since you need to make reasoning too, feel free to take your time. This part is in a narrative form and you should explain it step-by-step.
You may also include the judge’s opinion but don’t take too much of your time for this part. Since this brief is prepared for your class, figure out how important this is to your class. To ease you up, you can make notes.
The last part might be writing down all questions about the case. Having discussions in the class is what makes the students perform better. Other than that, writing all possible questions will help you to find the answers ahead.
Mistakes to Avoid
The first thing you should keep in mind is that you better not using a passive tone. Besides keeping away from confusion, an active voice has stronger emphasis. Other than that, you should make sure that you didn’t write ambiguous pronouns. Misinterpretation is a thing you don’t want to deal with.
When you write specific documents, you are not asked to write everything down. Keep the content simple but informative for you. As its name suggests, the thing stated in this document should be brief. Before submitting your work, make sure you have proof-read the document in the first place.
Conclusion
Writing briefs might be a bit overwhelming especially if this is your first time taking this opportunity. After reading this article, hopefully, you could get what you need. Also, feel free to download and use the case brief template on this site.
