Paper details:
In a nutshell, the case brief is an explanation of what the court decided in the case and why. See the attached worksheets for information and examples-
Case briefs are used to highlight the key information contained within a case for use within the legal community as court cases can be quite lengthy-When
writing case briefs, all information must be properly cited- Make sure you are not copying and pasting from your source- Most of the material should be
paraphrased; quotations should make up no more than 10% of the brief. Note: since the purpose to is highlight and summarize key information, merely
copying and pasting from the case does not accomplish this goal- You must summarize the facts in your own words, using quotations sparingly-
The case that is briefed in the attached sample can be found here: Delahanty v- Hinckley
Please remember that if you cut and paste something from the intemet into your assignment, that is plagiarism and you will receive a 0 for the assignment
and be reported to the school-
Your brief must be structured as follows:
CASE NAME AND CITATION: As a header on the first page of your brief, you should state the name of the case, identify each party’s role in the case, and
give the full Bluebook style citation to the case-
PARTIES: Who are the parties and what are their roles?
FACTS: Who did what to whom? Include all facts the court considered significant- Summarize in your own words- DO NOT cut and paste from the opinion-
PROCEDURAL HISTORY: Who is asking the court to do what? How did the case procedurally get before this court?
ISSUE(S): What question or questions did the court have to answer in order to make their decision? Your issue(s) should be stated in the form of a
question- Make sure you address ALL the issues in the case-
HOLDING: Which way did the court answer the questions posed in the issues? What did they decide?
REASONING: Why did the court decide the case the way it did? What legal standard did they use or establish? What prior cases did the Court rely upon
and why?
DECISION: This section gives the Judgment rendered by the court- Describe the final disposition of the case- Did the court affirm the lower court’s decision,
reverse it, and/or remand it for additional proceedings?
COMMENTS: Is there anything else that should be mentioned about this case? Is it a “landmark’ case? Was the court “divided”? Were there any
weaknesses/discrepancies in the court’s opinions?
