Briefing a Case

One of the requirements of your project is a case brief. This is something that every lawyer and law student must be able to do. A brief is an outline of a case’s specifics that presents the most important information.  To brief a case, you need to consider and answer the following questions:

1. Case: what is the name of the case? Where can the full case record be found? In what year was the case decided?
2. Facts: provide a summary of the incident that brought the case before the court.  Include a description of the crime and the circumstances causing the earlier court’s decision to be appealed.  **Describe what previous courts ruled on the case (if possible) and explain the ruling(s).
3. Issue: What are the central legal issues the court must decide to arrive at a decision?
4. Holding: What did the court decide? What is the outcome?
5. Reasoning: Why does the court decide the way it does? What is its logic and analysis of the facts?

You also need to read and provide a summary of the majority and dissenting opinions (judges explain
the ruling and why they agree or disagree with it) under the “reasoning” section.

Questions to ask when reading a case:  (taken from lawnerds.com)
Note: You do not need to answer these questions in the order written to complete the assignment. They must all be items you consider during when reading the case.

1. What facts and circumstances brought these parties to court? 
2. Are there buzzwords in the facts that suggest an issue? 
3. Is the court deciding a question of fact - i.e. the parties are in dispute over what happened - or is it a question of law - i.e. the court is unsure which rule to apply to these facts? 
4. What are the non-issues? 
5. What are the elements that prove the rule? 
6. What are the exceptions to the rule? 
7. From what authority does it come? Common law, statute, new rule? 
8. What's the underlying public policy behind the rule? 
9. Are there social considerations? 
10. Which facts help prove which elements of the rule? 
11. Why are certain facts relevant? 
12. How do these facts satisfy this rule?
13. What types of facts are applied to the rule? 
14. How do these facts further the public policy underlying this rule? 
15. What's the counter-argument for another solution? 
16. What's the holding of the case? 
17. Has the holding modified the existing rule of law? 
18. What is the procedural effect of the holding? Is the case overturned, upheld or remanded for retrial? 
19. Does the holding further the underlying policy of the rule? 
20. Do you agree with the outcome of the case?