Slide presentation created on 3-24-2012, by Michele N. Schumacher, Esq., Adjunct Professor, Southside Virginia Community College, Keysville, VA

1. HOW TO BRIEF A LEGAL CASE
Michele Nieroda Schumacher, Esq., Adjunct
Professor
Business Law I Clip Art 00305893.jpg taken from
Southside Virginia Community College http://office.Microsoft.com
Created March 22, 2012
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2. Why learn how to brief a case?
• To be able to interpret case law that may
affect businesses.
“Contracts” by NobMouse on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nobmouse/4052848608/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by.02/
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3. • What is a case?
• Litigation between two at least two parties.
• Who are the parties?
• The Plaintiff, the person bringing the law suit
• The Defendant, the person or entity against whom the suit
has been filed
• How does a case name appear?
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony, Case Number 48-
2008-CF-015606-O
The above two examples are called case citations.
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4. What does the citation, Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) tell us about the case?
• Name of the Plaintiff (usually to the left of the “v”)
• Brown
• Name of the Defendant (usually to the right of the “v”)
• Board of Education of Topeka
• Year the case was decided
• 1954
• Where (which) Court decided the case
• United States Supreme Court
• Where you can find a written opinion of the case
• Volume 347 of the United States Supreme Court
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Reporter at page 483

5. What is a Brief of a Case?
Black’s Law Dictionary, 2nd ed., defines
“brief” in part as follows:
In general. A condensed summary of the
facts and circumstances, or propositions
of law, constituting the case . . .
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6. Essential Elements of a Brief
1. Citation
2. Facts
3. Issue
4. Decision
5. Reason
Every brief written will have these five sections.
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7. Citation
• Give the full citation for the case, including the
name of the case, the date it was decided, and
the court that decided it.
Example: Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
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8. Facts
Briefly state
1. The reasons for the lawsuit
2. The identity and arguments of the plaintiff(s)
and the defendant(s), respectively
3. The lower court’s decision, if appropriate
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9. Issue
Concisely phrase, in the form of a
question, the essential issue before the court.
If more than one issue, you may have two or
more questions written
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10. Decision
Indicate with a “yes” or “no”, if possible, the
court’s answer to the question(s) in the issue
section.
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11. Reason
Summarize as briefly as possible
• the reasons given by the court in reaching its
decision(s), and
• the case or statutory law relied upon by the
court in arriving at its decision.
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