How to Write a Case Brief: Instructions and Format

Find a quiet place to read/write and let family and friends know that phones will be turned off during this work time. Try to write in the same location each time so that you develop a work routine. Write a note to yourself before you send your writing session reminding yourself where you left off and what you want to do when you start writing again next time. These notes save significant time when you sit down again to get started. Remember, professional reading and writing takes time and revision your first draft is a first attempt to compile your thoughts and ideas. There will be parts that are useful and parts to throw away. Don’t be afraid to eliminate early writing professional writing is a product that is built and rebuilt until it is clear, organized, and responsive to the assigned task. Read your final draft out loud to make sure that you haven’t missed confusing language or typographical errors that spellcheck will not catch. Clients and managing attorneys expect professional writing. Objectives Identify the parts of a case brief Write a simple case brief Define murder and its various degrees as applied to a specific case Assignment Overview This assignment presents a case that discusses murder and manslaughter. To better understand these concepts you will brief this case. Briefs help lawyers and paralegals keep track of the many cases they must read and analyze for various clients and purposes. Briefs are used to better prepare a lawyer for the specific legal issues he/she will face in a particular case. Briefs are prepared so that the lawyer knows in advance the law that will help or hurt his case. Deliverables Write a case brief following the specific instructions of this assignment. Case: People v. Thomas, Supreme Court of California, 1945 You can find the case on the link: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/2d/25/880.html (Links to an external site.) Or, the case is attached to this assignment prompt in Loud Cloud as a PDF file for you to print out Instructions: Case law is written when a court of law takes the law (more case law or statutory law) as it exists at a particular point in time and applies that law to a specific set of facts. All case law contains essentially the same parts: Case name, Court, Year, Publication information (this is the case citation) Holding Procedural History Facts Issues Rules of Law Analysis The definitions of each part of a case are described below in more detail. The purpose of a case brief is to take these parts and put them in a more condensed and concise format. A brief is concise, but at the same time, the essential information from the case must be included. To prepare a case brief, you must perform a “close reading of the case.” Make a copy of the case you will brief. This is your working copy for you to “annotate.” Annotating is a tool used for close reading—Annotating is simply taking notes in the margins and highlighting the key elements of the writing. Often paralegals annotate cases noting the key components of the case so that later they can quickly compile those elements in their case brief. Here are some common annotations (but you are free to do whatever works for you): Procedural History=PH Facts=F Issues=I Rules of Law=RL Analysis=A Holding= H (I usually star or highlight the holding in a case.) Each of these items (a-f) is defined below for you. The more you practice, these terms will become second nature to you. Don’t give up! This takes practice. Format for Brief (The order varies depending on the instructor or managing attorney, but for this project, please follow the order below): Case Name, Court, Year Holding Procedural History Facts Issues Rules of Law Analysis The brief should be double-spaced, 12-point font, with one-inch margins on all sides of the document. Be sure to put your name at the top of the Brief. How to Write a Case Brief Place the case name, court, and year (the case citation) at the top of the page. The sections that follow are written as a separate paragraph that immediately identifies which part of the case is being discussed. Holding: The holding is the court’s ultimate resolution of each issue raised in a case. For a case with multiple issues, each issue is listed with its resolution/holding. Each holding is stated concisely not as an extended discussion Procedural history: The procedural history is an explanation of how the case traveled through each court: name of the court, who sued who, and a concise (one or two sentences) outcome as to what happened in each court. Facts: Facts are, concisely, and accurately stated. Included are only facts that are relevant to the court’s ultimate decision or holding. The facts are stated as a story to be told. Party names and party roles are included in the statement of the facts. Issue: The issue is the question or questions that the court has to resolve. Typically the issues statement begins with the word Whether and ends with a period because this is a statement of the issue. Rules of law: To arrive at its ultimate decision on the issues presented, the court will identify one or more rules of law that it is using in the case. The court may rely on a constitutional reference, statutory reference, and other cases. Analysis: Here the court will take the rules of law it is relying upon and apply those rules to the specific facts of the case at hand. This is the court’s analysis, not your analysis.