Legal Research W4

Legal Research and Writing – Week 4 Assignment

Case Brief

One of the primary duties of a paralegal is to research case law to find relevant legal authority on an issue of law.  In addition, a paralegal may be asked to prepare a case brief of the pertinent cases identified during their research.  Be careful not to confuse a  case brief with a  legal brief.  A legal brief is a written document submitted to a court that includes an argument supported by legal authority in favor of the client’s position.  We will learn more about legal briefs later in the course.  A case brief is a short, written summary and analysis of a case.

The process for how to write a case brief is explained at the end of Chapter 4 of our textbook and includes an example case brief.  After reviewing the materials on briefing cases at the end of Chapter 4 including the example case brief, draft a one to two page case brief of  United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012) in the same or similar format as the example case brief.  Be sure to format any legal citations in Bluebook form.  Note that a separate title page or reference page is not required for this assignment.  

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