Fortunately, a technique exists that will aid the student considerably in achieving this end. This involves "boiling down" the information in legal cases into a concise form called a "brief." This section will acquaint students with the mechanical aspects of briefing legal cases. It deals only in a limited way with the substantive content to be drawn from a case; but preparation of a formalized brief will necessarily require the identification and compression of what is actually important in a particular case.
Every law student is capable of understanding the typical legal case, once he knows what to look for. Using a standardized method of briefing is the easiest way for beginning law students to achieve this comprehension.
There are many ways of briefing a case. An individual may prefer to write out a formalized brief; alternatively, he may use a color-code system, marking the elements of the case directly in the casebook, with different colors of felt-tip pen for the essential facts, the reasoning, the holding, etc. Others may find it more convenient to prepare only a condensed brief, written in the casebook margin, in combination with underlining; and some will decide not to brief at all.
Experts recommend that beginning law students use the formalized briefing process. First, the completed briefs will be useful as a study aid: they will make it unnecessary to re-read every case in reviewing for the exam. Second, formal briefs are an excellent means of preparing for first-year class discussions, especially when the professor asks the student to "state the case." Finally, the very process of focusing on and writing down the essence of what is read will help the student to memorize the concepts and force him to read slowly and carefully through what is often rather complex material.
At some point, locating the important elements of a case will become second nature. Development of this skill may take a semester or perhaps the entire first year. When he reaches this stage, the student should still use some abbreviated system for noting the major elements of a case, although he may conclude that the time-consuming formality of writing them on a separate sheet of paper is no longer necessary. The student will find it sufficient to make notations in the margin of the casebook, along with normal underlining or highlighting. This will serve the student's purpose, pro¬vided that he has mastered the formal briefing method, has confidence in his understanding of the structure of the cases, and is satisfied with shortening his briefs to the most essential elements.
The first step in marking or briefing a case is to learn what to look for. The following elements are the most important:
There are many important aspects to a brief and different instructors will give varied opinions, but if you stick to these seven basic elements you should be on safe territory.
- The student should note not only who the plaintiff is and who the defendant is. He should know the name of the case and no details of what transpired during the hearing and what the judgment was. The exact nature of the court's decision should be noted. This notation should include not only who won or lost, but also whether the prevailing party won outright or must go back to the lower court for further proceedings.
- The decisions of courts are published in volumes known as Reporters. Students should write down the volume number and page number on which the case is cited. Because casebooks usually print edited cases, the citation will help him to locate the original version if he ever wants to read the case in full.
- The student should know what the matter under contention is. What the dispute is all about that it necessitated a court to settle the issue. First-year courses inevitably place great emphasis on the facts (who, what, when, where, why, and how), so these should be studied carefully. Facts are crucial in narrowing what otherwise might seem to be an overly broad rule of law into a limited decision. Where the facts are sufficiently unique, they may serve to distinguish a particular case and make a rule which generally governs other factual situations inapplicable. The statement of facts should also include the decision(s) of the lower court(s) and, if given, the bases for those decisions.
- What rule of law was applied and the underlying principle and justification for the judgment. The student should examine those elements of the court's reasoning that are integral to the decision. The judge's reasoning merits careful analysis since, for law school purposes, it is the crux of the case. Law school training is designed to teach students to reason through a problem and arrive at the "correct" result, given a set of facts and the applicable law. Most exam questions employ this format.
- Particular attention should be given to what the court held in the individual case. A summary of the holding should state very narrowly what the court's reasons were for disposing of the particular case in the way it did. (E.g., the defendant did not possess the necessary intent for assault and battery; therefore, his actions should be judged by a negligence standard.
- To put the individual case in a larger perspective, the student should try to abstract the facts and holding in order to formulate a general principle of law. He must be careful, however, not to carry the court's logic too far. At first, the rule that is stated should be limited to what the case clearly justifies. As the student becomes more adept at this limiting process, he will develop the habit of using a case name as "shorthand" for the principle that the case demonstrates.
- If the dissenting opinion is logically compelling, or appealing for some other reason, its reasoning should be briefly summarized. The same may be done for any helpful commentary or case notes appended to the case. Sometimes a case is included in a case¬book, without being specially labeled, merely to give an example of the "old" principle, which courts no longer follow. The dissent may have become the prevailing opinion in more recent years. Typically, the professor will ask the student which opinion is better, and why.
Just keep in mind, that whatever you include in the brief, it is a tool for personal use. If you feel that including some extra matter will come in handy, by all means include it. If you feel that adding more matter will make it bulky and hard to navigate, then stick to the basic elements.
