Law School Guide: How To Case Brief

You must learn to case brief. Case briefs are written by you and for you. They are not submitted to the court. They are not written persuasively. Case briefs are tools.

The first thing to learn about case briefing is how they are used. Quite simply, a case brief is a summary of a legal opinion condensed into specific components. When you read a legal opinion, you will extract certain relevant information and insert it into the case brief. In class or in the office, you will then refer to the case brief when confronted with an issue of the case. Legal opinions can be long and dense, and case briefs aim to alleviate the inevitable problems associated with digesting large amounts of information. If a case brief is compiled correctly, you will likely never have to re-read the legal opinion.

As we have covered, there are at least three primary benefits to briefing in law school. First, the process of briefing forces you to write using legal concepts and terms. Repeating this process will only serve to make you a stronger legal writer. Second, a case brief is a timesaving tool. When done correctly, it will serve as a reference for what a particular legal opinion said or did. You should not have to re-read the opinion once you have created a case brief. Briefs are time-savers. Third, and perhaps most important, case briefs serve as a great learning tool. By extrapolating material from a case, you must study, analyze, and interpret the opinion. In the process you learn. Learning, after all, is why you are in law school.

There are several components to a case brief. While the exact components used vary, most will include the following:

Citation

Usually Includes Name Of Case, Volume, Reporter, Page Number, And Date.

For example:

Smith v. Jones (case name), 11 (volume) U.S. (reporter) 1234 (page number) (2013) (date).

To be written like this: Smith v. Jones, 11 U.S. 1234 (2013).

Facts

Provide Enough Background Facts To Place The Key Facts In Context.

Do not go overboard with providing too many facts.

Key facts are those facts that, if changed, would change the outcome of the case.

In essence, key facts are facts used by the court in its analysis of the legal issue. Also include role of each party. The best way to refer to a party is by their title. That is, instead of saying Smith, say Plaintiff (or Appellant, Defendant, etc.).

Procedural History

Include Those Facts That Occurred Once The Parties Were In Court. Include What Happened In Court.

For example:

“Plaintiff filed a summary judgment motion” or “Defendant was convicted of murder and appealed[MaM1] to this court.”

Issue

Only Include The Specific Legal Question Posed And Decided By The Court.

Usually, there is just one main issue. Sometimes there are several. Each issue should include the specific law used, the legal question, and the key facts.

For example:

“Whether Smith, per Penal Code 123, which defines burglary as . . . (specific law), committed burglary (legal question), when he entered the house at sunset . . . (key facts).”

Finding the main issue in an opinion is usually quite easy. First, look for the word “whether.” Second, look for a question mark. Nine times out of ten, this will lead you to the issue.

Holding

This is the court’s answer to the issue. As good measure, try and include the word “because” in your holding. “Because” guarantees you have provided a bit of the reasons why the court decided the issue the way it did.

For example:

“Yes, Smith committed burglary, because . . .”

Rule

There Is Likely To Be A Variety Of Rules Within A Case. Only Include Here The Rule Or Rules The Court Used To Decide The Main Legal Issue.

To find rules look for citations to other sources or language from the court that signals it is applying a certain statute, case, or regulation.

Reasoning

This Is Where The Meat Of The Brief Lies. The Reasoning Component Explains Why The Court Ruled The Way It Did.

Include an abbreviated summary version of the court’s analysis. To find the court’s analysis, look for the word “because” or its cousin “since.” Only include the reasoning relevant to the main issue.

Disposition

Here, Include The Result Of The Case. In Essence, What Happens Next.

For example:

affirmed, reversed, remanded, etc.

There Are Several Other Components Commonly Included: Policy, Comments, Concurring Or Dissenting Opinions, Dicta, And Others.

Remember, case briefs are not documents you need to spend much time figuring out how to do. Briefs are informal documents usually created for your eyes only. Do not fret or waste too much energy grappling over the specifics of how to create a brief. There is no one right answer. Do what works for you. The key is to create a document that serves its purpose — to provide a quick snapshot of the opinions and the legal principles derived therefrom.

Case Brief Example

The following example case brief is from an old Louisiana Supreme Court case: Reynolds v. Texas & Pacific Ry.

Reynolds v. Texas & Pacific Ry.

Supreme Court of Louisiana

37 La. Ann. 694 (La. 1885).

Facts: Plaintiff was an overweight women; Defendant operated a railroad. The train Plaintiff was waiting for was late. As the train approached, she and others were told to “hurry up.” Plaintiff rushed onto the platform and down an unlit and dark flight of stairs. She misstepped and was injured.

Procedural History: The trial court (no jury) found Defendant negligent. Defendant appealed.

Issue: Whether the failure to light steps on a railroad platform, where a person falls and injures themselves after being told to hurry to make the train, makes the railroad operator liable for negligence.

Rule: If the negligence of a defendant is the cause of a plaintiff’s injuries then the defendant is liable for damages sustained as a result.

Holding: The injuries sustained may have been caused by someone other than Defendant (like the Plaintiff being overweight) but the actions of Defendant in failing to light the stairs increased the change of accident and injury was of a kind that led naturally to the accident. There was an unbroken chain of actions to which Defendant’s actions played a substantial part. There is a strong connection between the negligence and the injury.

Reasoning: The court grappled with the issue of concurrent causes. That is, it considered the relationship between Defendant’s actions and a cause precipitated by Defendant’s negligence — Plaintiff’s excessive weight. It cannot be said that Defendant’s negligence in not lighting the stairs was not a cause of the accident. Instead, the evidence established the unbroken chain of cause and effect.

Disposition: affirmed.

Other Case Brief Examples

If you are interested, there are a variety of websites dedicated to helping law students with case briefs. Remember, though, that these should only act as aids to your studies and that nothing replaces your own hard work.