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How To Brief A Case

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How To Brief A Case

Legal

Uploaded by

qqbfxmptzt
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CANADIAN CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE - HOW TO BRIEF A

CASE

WHY BRIEF A CASE?


Reading and understanding case law is a key component to success at law school and
in your legal careers thereafter. Having the legal principles enunciated in judicial
decisions available at your fingertips will give you a leg up, both in writing law school
exams and in the courtroom or your law office long after your law school days are over.
Unless you have the kind of memory that can store and instantly retrieve everything you
read, you will have to develop some method of organizing all of this material. One way
that I have found to be very effective is to brief all of the major cases in whatever area of
the law you are currently studying or in which you later practice. This will allow you to
quickly review your case brief and retrieve whatever legal precedent you are searching
for without first having to rack your memory for that case you read years ago but can’t
quite remember the name of, hunting for the case and, if you are fortunate enough to
find it, reading through the entire case again.
How nice it would be to quickly go through your index of briefed cases, hone in on the
one you are looking for and extract the legal principles from a one or two page brief that
you yourself prepared. It’s all very possible. It just takes a little bit of extra time and
discipline; hey, you’re going to have to read the case anyway. Why not prepare a case
brief while you’re at it so you don’t have to read it again…and again…and again?

CASE NAME & CITATION:


Begin by ensuring that you have correctly identified the case by case name and citation.
You may have to go back at retrieve the reported decision, and there is nothing more
frustrating than having an incorrect citation. Be sure to note the year of the decision and
ensure that the court is identified, e.g.
R. v. Luedecke, 2008 ONCA 716

THE FACTS:
Although you should try to brief in outlining the facts, include all of the relevant facts that
were used by the court to decide the issues in question. If there are any unusual facts,
include them, as they will help you remember the case later on. For example, I can
always remember R. v. Hutchinson as the hole in the condom case. It’s not something
you will quickly forget.

1
THE ISSUES:
This may be the most important part of your brief. Take time to identify the key issue or
issues in the case. It is the issues that you will have to identify in an exam or in a file
and have to relate to the cases that you have read and summarized. If you can’t identify
the issue, you’re never going to find the relevant case that might be of assistance.

THE RATIO:
Of course, just as the issues are important, so is the legal reasoning that went into
resolving them. Try to summarize the reasoning using your own words as if you were
explaining it to someone not familiar with the law. I have always maintained that if I can’t
explain a legal principle to a non-lawyer then I don’t really understand it myself.
Ask yourself whether the decision changes the course of the law, i.e. does it follow
earlier precedents or forge a new path. Make note of any dissents; today’s dissent may
turn into tomorrow’s majority decision.

YOUR OWN OBSERVATIONS:


Here, you can include your own comments about the case, e.g. problems you see with
the reasoning, any possible application to other areas of the law etc.

JUST DO IT!
As the NIKE add says, Just Do It! Once you start getting into the habit of briefing all of
your cases, I am confident you will find it of invaluable assistance, both here at Bond
and in your future legal career.

PL

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