The Constitution of the United S

Briefing Cases

I want to provide you all with my views concerning how to brief a case. I will then expect to see improvement in future briefing assignments.

Facts: The facts should tell the story of what happened. This is not what lower court decided, but who did what to who, when, how, why. This is more like you are a reporter covering the original event that lead to the lawsuits. (For example: Bob was standing on a corner. Jim was driving down the street when his brakes failed and he lost control. etc., etc., etc.)

Issue: The issue statement should be one sentence in the form of a question, which begins with the word "whether." This is the question the tells you what the court has to decide. (For example: Whether a defect in the design of the car's brakes was a proximate cause of Bob's death?)

Ruling: This is what the court decided. This is the answer to the Issue Statement. (For example: The court held that the brake design was defective and that it was a proximate cause of Jim's death.) There are times when the court only partially answers the question, and sends the case back to the lower court for additional evidence to be developed in a trial. (For example: The court held that a defect in the design of the brakes could be a proximate cause of Jim's death. The ruling of the lower court holding that it could not be a proximate cause was reversed and the case was remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this ruling.)

Analysis: The section will normally be the longest section in your analysis. First you must identify the "legal rule." The legal rule is not the "ruling." It is a rule, just like "three strikes and you are out" is a rule in baseball. (For example: A cause is a proximate cause if it is foreseeable that it could result in the type of injury which occurred in the case.)

After writing down the legal rule, you will then apply the legal rule to the facts of the case(make sure that you are using the same facts that you included in your Facts section, above). Fore example, you might explain how based on the facts in this case it was foreseeable that the type of design defect in the brakes could result in the type of injury that actually happened (a person being hit an killed by a car with faulty brakes).

Your discussion in the Analysis section should logically lead to what you wrote in the Ruling section.

Everything must fit together: Notice each section must fit with all of the other sections. The facts in the facts section must be the same facts that you discuss in the analysis section. The issue statement must be the question which is answered by the ruling. The legal rule applied in the analysis section must match with the issue statement, and the ruling must logically flow from the analysis.


	Briefing Cases I want to provide you all with my views concerning how to brief a case. I will then expect to see improvement in future briefing assignments. Facts: The facts should tell the story of what happened. This is not what lower court decided, but who did what to who, when, how, why. This is more like you are a reporter covering the original event that lead to the lawsuits. (For example: Bob was standing on a corner. Jim was driving down the street when his brakes failed and he lost control. etc., etc., etc.) Issue: The issue statement should be one sentence in the form of a question, which begins with the word "whether." This is the question the tells you what the court has to decide. (For example: Whether a defect in the design of the car's brakes was a proximate cause of Bob's death?) Ruling: This is what the court decided. This is the answer to the Issue Statement. (For example: The court held that the brake design was defective and that it was a proximate cause of Jim's death.) There are times when the court only partially answers the question, and sends the case back to the lower court for additional evidence to be developed in a trial. (For example: The court held that a defect in the design of the brakes could be a proximate cause of Jim's death. The ruling of the lower court holding that it could not be a proximate cause was reversed and the case was remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this ruling.) Analysis: The section will normally be the longest section in your analysis. First you must identify the "legal rule." The legal rule is not the "ruling." It is a rule, just like "three strikes and you are out" is a rule in baseball. (For example: A cause is a proximate cause if it is foreseeable that it could result in the type of injury which occurred in the case.) After writing down the legal rule, you will then apply the legal rule to the facts of the case(make sure that you are using the same facts that you included in your Facts section, above). Fore example, you might explain how based on the facts in this case it was foreseeable that the type of design defect in the brakes could result in the type of injury that actually happened (a person being hit an killed by a car with faulty brakes). Your discussion in the Analysis section should logically lead to what you wrote in the Ruling section. Everything must fit together: Notice each section must fit with all of the other sections. The facts in the facts section must be the same facts that you discuss in the analysis section. The issue statement must be the question which is answered by the ruling. The legal rule applied in the analysis section must match with the issue statement, and the ruling must logically flow from the analysis.