Case Brief A short summary of a published case. A case brief is one way to summarize a reported case. The brief helps you identify the key facts and issues, then you are prepared to compare reported case with you client's situation. The Components of a Case Brief 1. Who are the parties? 2. If the case is an appeal, what happened in the lower court(s)? 3. What happened to bring these parties into court in the first place? 4. What is the legal question before this court? 5. What rules did the court rely on in reaching its decision? 6. How did the court analyze the facts in light of the legal question and the rules? 7. How did the court resolve the dispute? The Components of a Case Brief A. The name and the citation of the case names of litigants and correct legal citation for this reported case. B. The judicial history: the disposition of the case by the first court to consider it ,the trial court, and by any lower appellate that also considered the case. you'd list what happened in the lower court(s), however, do not go into too much detail. One or sentences are sufficient for this section. The Components of a Case Brief C. The facts What happened to bring the parties before the courts? fact: necessary fact? unnecessary fact? hypothetical fact? this section is the statement of the facts of the case. You are suggested to summarize and list only those facts that are relevant for the court's decision, i.e, includes the facts you need to understand the holding and reasoning of the case. The Components of a Case Brief D. The issues what is the legal question before this court? a legal issue or legal issues that one of the parties to the law suit claims was or were incorrectly resoled by any one of the lower court/ tribunal. E. The rules what rules (primary law) did the court rely on in reaching its decision? The Components of a Case Brief F. The holding/conclusion How did the court answer the issue question(s)? Yes or No? G. The reasoning how did the court analyze the fact in light of the legal question and the rules? This is the most important section of your case brief. You can actually be quite detailed in this section. Here you'd list the reasoning of the majority in reaching its decision. To the dissenting opinion, some of them also is deserved to be check and summarized by Case Brief A short summary of a published case. A case brief is one way to summarize a reported case. The brief helps you identify the key facts and issues, then you are prepared to compare reported case with you client's situation. The Components of a Case Brief 1. Who are the parties? 2. If the case is an appeal, what happened in the lower court(s)? 3. What happened to bring these parties into court in the first place? 4. What is the legal question before this court? 5. What rules did the court rely on in reaching its decision? 6. How did the court analyze the facts in light of the legal question and the rules? 7. How did the court resolve the dispute? The Components of a Case Brief A. The name and the citation of the case names of litigants and correct legal citation for this reported case. B. The judicial history: the disposition of the case by the first court to consider it ,the trial court, and by any lower appellate that also considered the case. you'd list what happened in the lower court(s), however, do not go into too much detail. One or sentences are sufficient for this section. The Components of a Case Brief C. The facts What happened to bring the parties before the courts? fact: necessary fact? unnecessary fact? hypothetical fact? this section is the statement of the facts of the case. You are suggested to summarize and list only those facts that are relevant for the court's decision, i.e, includes the facts you need to understand the holding and reasoning of the case. The Components of a Case Brief D. The issues what is the legal question before this court? a legal issue or legal issues that one of the parties to the law suit claims was or were incorrectly resoled by any one of the lower court/ tribunal. E. The rules what rules (primary law) did the court rely on in reaching its decision? The Components of a Case Brief F. The holding/conclusion How did the court answer the issue question(s)? Yes or No? G. The reasoning how did the court analyze the fact in light of the legal question and the rules? This is the most important section of your case brief. You can actually be quite detailed in this section. Here you'd list the reasoning of the majority in reaching its decision. To the dissenting opinion, some of them also is deserved to be check and summarized by you