Question for Kim Woods

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How to Brief a Case

Prepared for the Legal Studies Program

American Public University System

December 2013

Introduction: A case brief is a concise summary of the significance of a case. It is a bit

like a “book report,” but with very special rules! It is a time-honored practice used throughout

the legal profession and law schools. As a teaching tool, the case brief forces the student to

identify and provide a written description of the most important aspects of a case. Legal

precedent, also known as Stare Decisis, is a doctrine which governs much of our legal process.

Under the doctrine, a prior court’s decision serves as “authority” for a subsequent court which

will address the same or similar issue. Therefore, understanding a court’s decision and the

rationale underlying it ---- that is, how the judges arrived at their decision ---- is essential to

the study of law. The case brief serves as a very useful vehicle by means of which to analyze

and understand judicial decisions.

A case brief is a tool by means of which to “capture” or outline the most important

aspects of a case. A case brief is not an invitation to re-write the opinion or to paste together

quotes from the court’s opinion. The brief should be written in your own words, based on your

understanding of the case. Of course, select quotes of the court’s words can be useful, if used

sparingly. A case brief should be concise; it should be no more than 1-2 pages. There are at least

several different methods or models for writing the case brief; these are based on personal

preferences. In the Legal Studies Program, however, the format described here will be used for

all of the case briefs which you are required to write in your courses. By using this uniform

format, you will gain familiarity with the case analysis and brief writing process.

Often, your textbooks will contain synopses of or abbreviated versions of courts’

opinions. When you want to understand a court’s decision, it is essential that you read the entire

opinion, rather than a mere summary. Therefore, the first step in the brief writing process is

always to thoroughly read the entire case. This includes reading any concurring and dissenting

opinions of members of the court. In this regard, be very sure that you are reading the entire

opinion! In some internet based sources, the Syllabus (headnotes/summary) of the opinion is

presented at one link, the majority opinion is presented at another link, etc. You need to read all

portions of the opinion as all of them are relevant to your analysis of the case. For example, if

there are strong dissenting opinions based on key legal points, this could predict what the court

might decide in the future on similar issues.

1. Case Name and Citation: As a header on the first page of your brief, you should state

the name of the case, identify each party’s role in the case, and give the full Bluebook style

citation to the case. (See Bluebook resources in the APUS library for more information about

Bluebook format.) It is essential that the reader of your case brief know who initiated the

litigation and who appealed. For example, in the sample case brief of the Delahanty case (see

accompanying materials), Thomas and Jean Delahanty are clearly identified as the plaintiffs

(parties who initiated the litigation) and as appellants (parties who sought appellate review of the

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lower court’s decision). The full Bluebook style citation enables your reader to find the correct

legal reporter in which the opinion is found, the volume and page on which the case appears, and

the year in which the case was decided.

2. Facts: The Facts section is a short synopsis of the most important facts of the case.

“Important” means “relevant” to the issue before the court and to the decision of the court. Your

reader needs to know “what happened” to give rise to the litigation and needs to understand the

facts which were analyzed by the court. Although other factual details might be interesting, only

include them if they give the reader the “big picture” of what the case is about. Be sure to

include the nature of the lawsuit and the parties in the lawsuit. The goal in the Facts section is to

summarize the facts in such a manner that if someone did not read the court’s opinion, they

would understand the facts of the case.

3. Procedural History: The Procedural History section is a summary of previous

proceedings between the parties from the time the case was initially filed to the present. This is

important because most reported cases are appellate cases in which a previous decision was

rendered in a trial court. It is essential that you understand how the case arrived in the court, the

opinion of which you are briefing. Indeed, in many case brief assignments, you will brief an

Opinion of the United States Supreme Court; in those instances, the case will likely have been in

several different courts previously. It is important that you “track” who “won” at each level, and

that you understand that the losing party appeals to the next level of court.

The Delahanty case is an example of a somewhat unusual case, but the unusual nature of

the case is a good illustration of why the Procedural History of the case is so important. The

civil lawsuit was filed by the Delahantys in federal court (United States District Court in the

District of Columbia). Their case was dismissed and they appealed to the next level of federal

court (the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit). That federal

appellate court needed to obtain the view of the court in the applicable local jurisdiction (the

District of Columbia) on a specific legal question. In order to obtain that view, the federal

appellate court “certified” the legal question to the local court. The sample case brief is written

about the opinion which was rendered by the local court, the District of Columbia Court of

Appeals.

4. Issue(s): The issue should be a yes/no question which identifies the specific question

the court must decide in order to rule in the case. For example, “Are manufacturers and

distributors of Saturday Night Specials strictly liable for injuries arising from their criminal use

in the District of Columbia?” There may be more than one main issue that the court must decide.

If there are multiple issues, the issues should be set forth in a number format, such as “Issue 1”,

etc.

5. Holding(s):The Holding section succinctly states how the court answered the issues

presented. Typically it includes a yes/no answer followed by the issue presented written in an

answer format. It includes the legal principle relied on by the court. If there are multiple issues,

there must be a corresponding number of holdings.

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6. Reasoning: This is a very important part of the brief. The Reasoning section

describes why and how the court reached its holding in the case. This may include an

application or revision of pre-existing legal principles, policy reasons and/or negative effects

resulting from a different court ruling. If there are both a majority and dissenting opinion issued

by the court, then this section should be broken down into subsections to reflect those opinions’

analyses. Likewise, if there is a concurring opinion, a brief description should be included in an

additional subsection. If there are multiple issues, there must be a corresponding number of sub-

sections within the Reasoning section.

7. Decision: This section gives the Judgment rendered by the court. Describe the final

disposition of the case. Did the court affirm the lower court’s decision, reverse it, and/or remand

it for additional proceedings?

8. Comments: Is there anything else that should be mentioned about this case? Is it a

“landmark” case in the sense that the court significantly changed the law concerned a particular

issue? Was the court “divided”? Were there vigorous dissenting opinions? Do you see any

weaknesses/discrepancies in the court’s opinions?

For example, in the Delahanty sample brief, a useful comment would be that the case is a

good example of how appellate courts certify issues to other courts in order to obtain the legal

opinion of the other court on a particular issue.