How+To+Brief+a+Case文档格式.docx

How+To+Brief+a+Case文档格式.docx

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[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:

ISSUEISSUE

DECISIONRULE

APPLICATION

CONCLUSION

Forpurposesofunderstandingacase,wewilladdonemoreelement,therational.Thus,ourbasicapproachtoabriefisasfollows:

（1）CASENAME

（2）FACTS

（3）ISSUEISSUE

（4）DECISION（4a）RULE

（4b）APPLICATIONRATIONALE

（4c）CONCLUSION

Eachoft