How to Brief a Case如何简单案例.pptVIP

How to Brief a Case A Template for Understanding Lawyers’ Brains Parts of a Case Brief The case brief contains four sections: Facts Issue Holding Reasoning. For our purposes, the Reasoning section has two sub-parts: Precedent Policy FACTS These are the key facts, the legally significant facts. Courts tend to tell a story about a case. The story has more information than the court actually relies on for its decision. The facts section of the brief should identify only those facts that are essential to understanding the decision in the case. Your brief should present these facts in strict chronological order. Use the past tense for events that are over. Which FACTS??? Usually, you can cover key facts by answering the following questions: Who are the parties? What is their relationship? Employer/employee? Doctor/Patient? Strangers? Agency/citizen? Who did what to whom? What events brought the parties into conflict? How does the defendants action violate the law? Omit extraneous detail (procedural history and steps before the appeal, specific dates, times, places, first names). Omit facts not central to the decision. Include facts the court uses to reach its holding. Vocabulary Plaintiff: initiates lawsuit Defendant: person against whom plaintiff files lawsuit Appellant: initiates appeal Appellee: person against whom appellant files appeal Petitioner: initiates lawsuit in some states or appeal in Supreme Court Respondent: person against whom petitioner files State or prosecution: Entity that prosecutes a crime Defendant: the accused Issue: The question the court must answer A single sentence for most cases. Must include the legal claim, which is also called the cause of action. Whatever law the plaintiff claims the defendant violated, or The point of law that the court below decided incorrectly. You must show how the facts in the case give rise to that claim. Put both facts and legal claim together. The facts are critically important, because each case