Briefing a case (summarizing a case)

by John Bandler

"Briefing a case" is just a complicated way for lawyers to describe summarizing a case decision.

A case decision is an opinion written by a judge (or several judges together) in connection with a case that judge is overseeing. The judge writes that opinion which summarizes various facts of that case, analyzes various laws that apply (statutes and other case decisions), and issues a ruling (decision, or holding) regarding the issue in dispute.

The decision affects the parties to the case, because it is likely someone won and someone lost. Sometimes decisions come in the middle of a litigation, and affect the next stages. Sometimes decisions are a final outcome of the case, at least with respect to that judge, since often parties can appeal to a higher court.

The decision also creates law, it is legal precedent, because it is a judge saying what the law is in this circumstance, which means it might be the law in other similar circumstances.

When reading a case decision consider these things about the decision.

  • Identify caption/title of case (lists parties)
  • Identify the citation of case (how to cite it, find it)
  • Identify court issuing the opinion (trial court, appellate court, state or federal, location, etc.)
  • What type of case is it? (civil, criminal, regulatory)
  • Who are the parties? (Plaintiff, defendant, appellant, appellee, etc.)
  • What are the facts of the case? (e.g. what happened before the case got to court)
    • What facts are agreed upon.
    • What facts are in dispute?
  • What is the prior procedure of the legal case?
    • How did the case start in the legal system
    • What has the legal procedure been up to the point of this case decision
  • Who wrote the main opinion, are there concurrences or dissents?
  • What issues and laws are being interpreted and decided? How are they decided?
  • What level of authority/precedent does this ruling carry? (Binding upon the U.S.? Upon a state? Highly or mildly persuasive? etc.)
  • Summarize the court’s holding (ruling on law) in one or two sentences.

First, do not be intimidated by case decisions. You can read them. Or at least work to read some of the relevant parts.

Second, don't feel bad if you don't fully get it. Realize that many case decisions are long, complicated, and hard to understand. It would be nice if judicial opinions (and other attorney writing) was simple, clear, to the point, and not excessively long.

If you ever become a judge, try to write your decisions, opinions, and orders clearly, and no longer than they really need to be.

Conclusion

This is a brief summary, and I broke this material out from my longer Introduction to Law Outline/Article because that was getting long.

Looking for more details? See your library or other scholarly materials.

10. My articles on this site

This article is hosted at https://johnbandler.com/briefing-a-case, copyright John Bandler, all rights reserved. It was pulled from my 2021 article outline on Introduction to Law because that had grown too large.

Posted 12/12/2024. Updated 12/12/2024.