How+To+Brief+a+Case.docx
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How+To+Brief+a+Case.docx
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How+To+Brief+a+Case
HOWTO
BRIEF
A
CASE
[OR–WHYDIDN’TICHOOSETOGOTOMEDICALSCHOOL]
ByDanaL.Blatt,Esq.
Youarejustabouttostartlawschool.Youbuyallofyourrequiredcasebooks[theyareabouttwofeetthick–only“slightly”intimidating],andyoureceiveyourfirstassignment.Youaresimplytold,“readthefirst100pagesineachbookandBRIEFallofthecases!
”
O.K.,youknowhowtoread[hopefully],butwhatdoesitmeanto“brief”acase?
Youhaveheardof“briefcases,”butthatissomethingthatyoucarryaround.Thelasttimeyousangatakaraokebarsomeonemayhaveaskedyoutobe“brief,”butinstinctivelyyouknowthatthatisnotthekindofbriefthatisbeingdiscussedhere.Andyoumayevenbewearing“briefs.”
But,whatisabriefofacase?
Forthatmatter,whatisacase?
Thepurposeofthisarticleistoteachexactlywhatbriefsare,whytheyareimportant,andhowtodraftthem.Youwilllearnmostofthevariouswaystobriefacase,thebasicelementsofeachbrief,andhowbriefsareusedinvariouscontexts.Additionally,youwillreadsamplecasesandbriefsofthosecasesineveryformat.Bythetimeyoufinishreadingthis,youwillbesosickofbriefs,thatyouwillwishthiswritingweremuchbriefer!
So,nowlet’sgetdowntobusiness.
Whatisacase?
A“case”startsoutasalawsuitbetweentwoormorepeople.Thepartiestothelawsuithaveatrialandonepartywinswhiletheotherloses(orpossiblythereisnotrialbutoneofthepartieswinsbecauseofadecisionbasedonlegalprocedure).Next,thepartywholostthecasegetsangryandbitter.So,heorshedecidestofileanappeal.Anappealisarequestthata“highercourt”[“™”]examinewhatwasdoneinthetrialcourttomakesurethatnolegalerrorswerecommitted.(The“highercourt”isusuallyreferredtoasanappellatecourt.The“highest”appellatecourtistheSupremeCourt.)Generally,therearenotrialsinappellatecourts.Rather,anappealisstrictlyareviewbyapanelofjudgesofwhattranspiredinthetrialcourt.Theappealscourtsusuallymaketheirdecisionsinwriting.Thewrittendecisioniscalledanopinion.Itiscalledanopinionbecauseitreflectstheopinionofthejusticesastowhatthelawisforthatparticularfactualsituation.Sincethedecisionisinwriting,itissaved.[Notonlyisitsaved,butitiscatalogedandindexedadnauseam.]Sincetheopinionhasbeensaved,itcanbelocatedinthefuturewheneveritisneeded.Opinionshavebeensavedandcataloguedforhundredsofyears.Itisthefundamentaltheoryofourentirelegalsystemthatonceacaseisdecided,ifthereshouldeverbeanothercaseinthefuturethatisthesameasthedecidedcase,thatfuturecaseshouldbedecidedexactlythesamewayasthefirstcasewasdecided.Thisiscalledstaredecisis.Inotherwords,theopinioneffectivelyestablishesarulethatistobefollowedinthefutureforallsimilarcases.Moreover,sincealloftheopinionsoverthepasthundredsofyearshavebeensaved,theycanalwaysbelocatedandusedasabasistoresolveacurrentlegaldispute.TheCommonLawistheresultofthecollectionofhundredsofyearsofwrittendecisionsbyappellatecourtsinEnglandbeforetheUnitedStateswasformed.TheUnitedStatesadoptedtheCommonLawanditisthebasisofourlegalsystem.Thus,[toanswerthequestion]acase,forpurposesofthisdefinition,isawrittenappellatecourtopinionwhichreviewsthedecisionofalowercourtandis,accordingly,nowthe“LawoftheLand”accordingtothedoctrineofstaredecisis.Inlawschool,whatyouwillstudyistheaforementionedcollectionofappellatecourtopinionsbecausetheyare“thelaw.”
Whatisabrief?
Abriefisnothingmorethanasummaryofanappellatecourtopinion.That’sit–nothingmore!
[Nowthatyouknow,thereisnoreasontoreadtherestofthisarticle.]Abriefisawrittensynopsisordigest.Itisjustaconciserenderingorexplanationoftheopinion.Yourprimaryjobasalawstudent(evenyourjobasalawyer)istobrief(i.e.,summarize)cases.
Whybothersummarizingcases?
Supposethatyouaskedafriendifshehadseenthatoldclassicmovie,“GreenAliensofReptar?
”Yourfriendfranklyconcedesthatshedoesn’trememberthatmovieandasks,“Whatwasitabout?
”Youcouldinsistthatshegoseethemovie.Betteryet,youcould“briefly”explainwhatthefilmwasabout(thatwouldsurelyrefreshhermemory),andthenthetwoofyoucoulddiscusstheimportanceoftheflicktoyourconversation.Inlawschool,youwillbeaskedtoreadhundredsofcases.MostofthecasesareNOTparticularlymemorable.Inclass,whenitcomestimetodiscussaparticularcase,itis“best”ifallstudentsarethinkingaboutanddiscussingthesamecaseatthesametime.Theprofessorwillselectastudent(usuallyatrandom)to“brief”thecasefortheentireclass.Ifyouarecalledupon,then[afteryoucatchyourbreath],youmustsummarizethecaseatissue,onthespot,beforetheentireclass.Inthismanner,theentireclasscanberemindedofwhatthecaseisaboutbeforeitisdiscussed.Ifyouarecalleduponandcannotbriefthecase,youwillbetoldtostandinthecorner.Youwillbegradedbyhowwellyoubriefacaseandbyhowpreparedyouaretodiscusstheramificationsofthecaseinclass.Accordingly,itisessentialandfundamentalthatyoureadeverycaseandbriefeverycase.Youabsolutelymustbeprepared,ineveryclassthatyouattend,tothoroughlydiscusseverycase;thatmeansthatyoumustbeabletoreciteabriefofeverycaseineveryclass,everytime!
Withsomanyunmemorablecasestoremember,theonlywaythatonecanbepreparedtobriefeverycaseeverytime,istowriteoutasummaryofeverycaseinadvanceofclass.Toputitanotherway,itisthejobofeverylawstudenttoreadallofthecasesandtosummarize(i.e.,brief)everycase.Itisextremelytime-consumingtowritebriefs.Thus,studytimemustbebudgetedaccordingly.Herewewillexplainthelong,hard,triedandtruemethodsofbriefingacase.Laterwewillshowyousomeshortcuts.
Arethereotherkindsoflegalbriefs?
Yes.[Youcanskipthissectionifyouonlywantthe“beef”!
]Throughoutyourcareerasalawyeryouwillberequiredtopreparevariouskindsofwritings,allofwhicharereferredtoas“briefs.”Atrialbrieforappellatebriefissimplyasummaryofyourlegalargumentoracollectionof“briefsofcases”organizedinsuchamannerandinterspersedwithlegalcontentionsinsuchawayastopersuadeatrialorappellatecourtthataparticularlegalpositionthatisbeingadvocatediscorrect.Thetrialorappellatebriefisusually“brief”(i.e.,onlyaslongasnecessary)andrarely,ifever,containsthefulltextofanycase.Rather,suchabriefrefersthecourttothefulltextofacasebysummarizingtheimportantpointsofthecaseandprovidingthecitation[abookvolumeandpagenumberwherethecasecanbefound].Ifthecourtneedsmoreinformationfromacasethanwhatisprovidedbytheexcerpt,thejudgecanreadtheentireopinionbyreferencetothecitation.Inoneformoranother,briefsofcasesareusedineverykindoflegalactivitythatexistswhetheritbeatrialbrief,writingalawreviewarticle,draftinganinter-officememoinalawfirm,studyingforalawschoolexamination,conductinglegalresearch,ormakinganargumenttotheUnitedStatesSupremeCourt.Inotherwords,briefingisWHATYOUDOinlawschoolandamajorpartofWHATYOUWILLdoasalawyer.Thus,learninghowtobriefacaseisanessentialskillthatmustbemasteredandwillbeusedthroughouteveryperson’slegalcareer.[Bynowyououghttobereallyscared!
]Briefscanbemanypageslongortheycanbeasshortasasinglesentence.Thelengthofthebriefdependsonthepurposeforwhichitisgoingtobeused.Inthisdiscussionwewillfocusonbriefsforuseinthelawschoolclassroom.However,wewillalsoprovideexamplesofothertypesofbriefs.Restassured,however,ifonecanbriefacaseforclassroompurposes,allothertypesofbriefswillfallnaturallyintoplace.
Aretheredifferentkindsofbriefsintendedforclassroompurposes?
Yes;andwewilllearnaboutalltypesinthisarticle.Thetypesare:
(1)StandardClassroomFormat,
(2)BulletPointBriefs(3)BookBriefs,(4)ProfessionalBriefs,and(6)“Jockey.”
HowToBriefACase.[Finally,atlast,thoughtwewouldnevergetthere!
]
Therearecertainelementswhicharefoundineverybrief.Theyarefoundineverybriefbecausetheyarethefundamentalelementsofeverycase.Theyare:
CASENAME
FACTS
ISSUE
DECISION
Briefly,theFactsarethecircumstanceswhichoccurredbetweenthepartiesthatresultedinalawsuit.TheIssueisthelegalquestiontobeansweredbythecourt.And,theDecisioniswhatwasdecidedbythecourt.
Manycommentatorsadvocatetheuseofasystemcalled“IRAC”forthetakingoflawschoolexaminations.“IRAC”standsforIssue,Rule,Application,Conclusion.TheIRACelementscanalsobefoundineverybrief.Theyrepresentabasicmethodofanalyzinganylegalproblem.Actually,“IRAC”isasub-partoftheabovebasicbriefelements.Theonlyreasonthattheword“facts”doesnotappearin“IRAC”(i.e.,FIRAC)isthatthefactsarealwayssuppliedinalawschoolexaminationand“IRAC”isusuallythoughtofasatest-takingtool.Wewillincorporate“IRAC”intoourbriefformatasfollows:
CASENAME
FACTS
ISSUEISSUE
DECISIONRULE
APPLICATION
CONCLUSION
Forpurposesofunderstandingacase,wewilladdonemoreelement,therational.Thus,ourbasicapproachtoabriefisasfollows:
(1)CASENAME
(2)FACTS
(3)ISSUEISSUE
(4)DECISION(4a)RULE
(4b)APPLICATIONRATIONALE
(4c)CONCLUSION
Eachoft
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