A+ Guide to Legal Case Briefs
Über dieses E-Book
This booklet can help you by showing you the complete process of briefing a case. This practical, systematic method will start with a basic discussion of the purpose of case briefs and end with a final proofreading. In between that first and last step, you will learn how to write each section of a case brief, section by section. These sectional breakdowns show you exactly what to include in different places within the brief. You will no longer need to guess what to write and where to write it. By using the breakdown, the various pieces of the document will work together to create a coherent and complete brief.
For the purposes of this booklet, it does not matter if you skip around and take the sections out of order. The booklet will proceed in the pattern most case briefs adopt:
Procedural History
Facts
Issue
Holding
Rationale
T
his booklet not only helps you brief a case, but it shows you a critical thinking process important to the practice of law. Working the sections carefully the first time will teach you the method. Then, when you must brief another case, use this booklet as a reference to help you remember what each section must include. The more you use the method, the easier it will be.
Note: This booklet will not cover legal citation in depth. A shortcut and some basic citation tips will be presented in the section on case brief headings, but for more information about citation, please consult the Bluebook.
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Autoren-Profil
Hi! I’m Alison Plus, and I’ve spent many years editing books for publication, teaching writing at the college level, and tutoring students in junior high, high school, college, and graduate school. You know how they say that our education system “teaches to the test” now? As a practical matter, this means that many schools no longer teach students how to write papers. Oh, they still teach basic grammar and reading comprehension because standardized testing can measure that. But if they take valuable classroom time to show you how to organize different kinds of paragraphs, what to stress in different kinds of papers, and how to set up a thesis and support, they are possibly endangering their entire school’s test scores. Therefore, many schools no longer teach these basic writing and organization skills.
This is why I decided to write a series of booklets addressing different kinds of writing assignments. Each booklet starts by examining the nature of the assignment type – short answer essays have different goals from five-paragraph essays, which are organized differently from literature reviews, which are set up in a way very different from an argument paper. After we understand the basic purpose of the paper type, we move methodically through the different types of sentences and paragraphs, building a template that you can follow to write your own papers. Each booklet also includes proofreading tips designed for the particular assignment type and word processing software, as applicable.
Take your time going through each booklet the first time! You’re not only writing a paper, but you’re also learning a method that you will be able to transfer to future assignments. Allot enough time to absorb each step in the process, and in the end, you’ll have more than just a finished essay. You’ll have skills to make you a better writer going forward.
