How to Write a Case Brief: The Ultimate Cheatsheet

Case briefing has an extended historical past in authorized research as a tried-and-true methodology for reviewing and analyzing judicial opinions. 

Whether or not you’re a legislation pupil trying to grasp case briefing, or a lawyer searching for to re-learn this talent to advocate extra successfully, this weblog submit supplies a helpful cheat sheet to make tackling case briefs extra environment friendly.

As for the authorized briefing by yourself circumstances, ebook a demo with Clio to see how our observe administration answer might help you retain case info and paperwork organized and increase your productiveness. 

Bear in mind: Crucial ingredient of a case temporary is the thought you set into it, so don’t count on to be utilizing AI for this goal.

In contrast to authorized briefs, case briefs aren’t submitted to the court docket or opposing counsel. As an alternative, case briefs might help a lawyer or legislation pupil digest related judicial opinions and be capable of talk about them completely. That is an apparent profit for an appellate or trial lawyer at oral argument, or a legislation pupil dealing with a professor’s Socratic-method-style questioning.

Some fundamental parts of a case temporary embody summaries of the info, procedural historical past, the primary authorized subject of the case, and the court docket’s holding. Nonetheless, there are different important steps in writing a helpful case temporary.  

Steps for writing a case temporary

The next are some important steps for how one can write a quick of a case.

1. Evaluate the case completely

Earlier than diving into the precise writing of the case temporary, it’s best to learn the whole judicial opinion completely. The primary time, chances are you’ll search to easily get an enormous image view of the case. On subsequent readings, it’s best to begin figuring out key info and points and analyzing the court docket’s reasoning. 

2. Case title and quotation

Begin off your case temporary with the case title and quotation. Whereas the quotation is required for reference and analysis functions, it additionally has different functions. It’ll embody the names of the events and the 12 months and jurisdiction the place the case was determined.

3. Define the case info

On this part, you’ll define the related info that led as much as the submitting of the lawsuit. A easy proposition applies each right here and to the case temporary as an entire—it needs to be temporary, not a rehash of the whole judicial opinion. Accordingly, your info part ought to solely be a abstract of essentially the most pertinent info for the general case evaluation. A number of readings will doubtless be obligatory for this willpower.

Additionally you’ll want to clearly title the events concerned in your reality abstract. Specify who the plaintiff and defendant have been on the trial court docket degree (for civil circumstances) and keep away from calling the events “appellant” or “respondent,” since any social gathering can provoke an enchantment. A shorthand time period for a celebration might also be useful for straightforward evaluation, similar to “Abbott” for Abbott Laboratories. 

4. Describe the procedural historical past

Subsequent, it’s best to define the procedural historical past that led to the case coming earlier than the court docket that issued the choice. This could embody the related causes of motion within the criticism. (An alternate observe is to incorporate the submitting of the unique criticism within the info part). 

Then, state the trial court docket willpower that led to the enchantment, such because the granting of a:

movement to dismiss, 
movement for abstract judgment, or 
movement for brand new trial. 

If the case has already been addressed by an appellate court docket, embody that court docket’s willpower as effectively.

5. State the authorized subject

The authorized subject is the authorized query the court docket is resolving with this opinion. These won’t be factual points, since these are the only real province of the trier of reality (whether or not that may be a choose or jury). Nonetheless, it’s best to embody the important thing info referring to the authorized subject in dispute.

For legislation college students, the authorized subject will be gleaned from analyzing why your legislation pupil assigned you the case or why it’s included within the textbook. 

For attorneys, the authorized subject will doubtless relate to the rationale you—or your opponent—are citing the case within the first place.

6. State the court docket’s holding and reasoning

The court docket’s holding is the way it resolved the authorized subject—that’s, the way it answered the authorized query. This holding needs to be said as near a “sure” or “no” as doable. Bear in mind to briefly state the court docket’s authorized rationale for the holding.

7. Summarize the rule of legislation utilized by the court docket

The rule of legislation is the authorized precept utilized by the court docket to achieve its determination. For legislation college students, this would be the important takeaway of the case, as supposed by your professor. For attorneys, this would be the important level for which you or your opponent is citing the case. Many appellate selections will really state the rule of legislation instantly, however this isn’t at all times the case.

8. Concurring and dissenting opinions

The ultimate stage of summarizing concurring and dissenting opinions could also be non-compulsory, relying on the circumstances. These opinions can embody attention-grabbing different analyses of the case. When you embody these summaries, you’ll want to handle why a choose determined to jot down their separate opinion. 

Completely different briefing approaches

There are a number of completely different approaches to outlining your case temporary. Notice that these are additionally frequent outlines for solutions on legislation faculty exams.

IRAC. Probably the most well-known construction for case briefing, this acronym stands for “Difficulty, Rule, Software, and Conclusion”. The Software normally covers the court docket’s reasoning, whereas the Conclusion covers the court docket’s holding.
ICRA. Difficulty, Conclusion, Rule, Software. Extra of a stylistic distinction from IRAC, this strikes the Conclusion part up towards the start of the temporary.
CRAC. Conclusion, Rule, Software, Conclusion. That is finest to make use of whenever you need to emphasize the court docket’s conclusion in your temporary.
CREAC. Conclusion, Rule, Clarification, Software, Conclusion. The Clarification part can broaden on the court docket’s reasoning.

Notice that every one of those buildings come after the info and procedural historical past and deal with the case evaluation.

Widespread errors to keep away from in case briefing

There are a number of frequent errors made in case briefs.

Overloading the temporary with irrelevant particulars

A case temporary is meant to be a quick abstract of the case. Keep away from overloading your temporary with innocuous info, procedural twists, and facet arguments. Simply follow the meat of the evaluation.

Neglecting procedural historical past

Procedural historical past is necessary for understanding how the court docket utilized the legislation and reached its conclusion. Neglect to incorporate this info, and your temporary could also be troublesome to evaluation and perceive at a later date.

Misidentifying the authorized subject

The authorized subject of the case could also be a very powerful ingredient of the case temporary. Misidentify this subject and your rule of legislation and evaluation will even be flawed.

Writing the temporary for somebody apart from your self

It is very important keep in mind the case temporary just isn’t for a choose, opposing counsel, or legislation professor. In contrast to a lot authorized writing, a case temporary is written in your reference. Attorneys can consider a case temporary as extra of a authorized memo. Accordingly, don’t be obsessive about correct formatting to the extent that you just waste undue time or fail to investigate the case appropriately.

Case temporary template

The next is a possible template to make use of for a case temporary, utilizing the IRAC construction:

Case Identify and Quotation: _____

Details: _____

Procedural Historical past: _____

Difficulty: _____

Rule: _____

Software: _____

Conclusion: _____

Subsequent _____

Therapy (if any):

Closing ideas on writing a case temporary

For attorneys and legislation college students alike, case briefing is usually a vital device for fulfillment. Observe this information to raise your case briefs.

As soon as case briefing has helped you manage your analysis and authorized arguments, try how Clio might help you retain your current circumstances organized and your agency working easily. Schedule a demo now.

We revealed this weblog submit in December 2024. Final up to date: December 18, 2024.

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