criminal justice

CLJ 2062

Case Brief Guidelines and Rubric

1. Students will brief the case in which they are assigned. The instructor will assign cases.

The case briefs are to be the student’s own work. The learning process takes place with

the student reading, analyzing, and summarizing the facts and issues in a case; copying

someone else’s work is not part of the learning process.

2. Be prepared to explain, justify, or dissent from your assigned case, as the instructor

and/or classmates may query you about the case.

3. Case briefs will be written in the following format (mandatory):

a) Title and Citation (e.g., Jones v. Smith, 123 F.3d 456 (11th Cir. 2004))

b) Type of Action (e.g., civil suit for money damages for violation of free speech

rights under the First Amendment.)

c) Facts of the Case (Discuss relevant facts; What happened? Why is this matter in

court?)

d) Contentions of the Parties (What are the best arguments favoring each party?)

a. Smith argues that:

b. Jones argues that:

e) Issue(s) (The issue relevant to the subjects studied in the module in which it is

assigned, e.g., Were Jones’ rights under the First Amendment violated when he

was fired for speaking at a political rally?)

f) Decision (How did the court rule on that issue?)

g) Reasoning (Why did the court rule the way it did? This is the most important part

of the case.)

h) Rule of Law (What one legal point do we take from this case?)

4. Length: Should not exceed two pages.

5. Do not post a brief without checking your spelling and grammar. You will lose points

for errors.

Grades will be weighted as follows (total 80 points):

a. Name (on all pages): 10 points

b. Summary of facts: 10 points

c. Format: 10 points

d. Clarity of writing: 10 points

e. Correctly identify the appeals court that is offering the opinion: 10 points

f. Identify the correct legal issue: 10 points

g. Correctly state the court’s holding on the legal issue: 10 points

h. State the court’s reasoning for their holding: 10 points