Case Brief Template

A comprehensive brief follows the following structure, which captures seven

elements:

1. Title and Citation

2. Facts of the Case
3. Issues
4. Decisions/Holdings
5. Reasoning/Rationale
6. Separate Opinions
7. Analysis

Explanation of Seven Elements

Title and Citation

The reason for including a title in a case brief is that it helps to note the parties –
who is against who. Basically, the name that appears first is for the party that
initiated legal action in that particular court case. However, since the party that
loses tends to appeal to a higher court, it can be confusing to identify who initiated
the course case. In turn, the citation is the means that help one to locate the
reporter of the case in the appropriate case reporter.

Facts of the Case

A case brief is never complete without a summary of pertinent facts and legal
points raised in the paper. In capturing facts, individuals preparing a case brief
intend to show the nature of the litigation, which party sued, the occurrences
influenced the problem, and the rulings made by the lower court/s. Also, a
summary of these facts precedes the court’s published opinion. Notably, to capture
the statement of facts is the best way, law professionals provide them in a
dissenting or concurring opinion. In turn, judges are selective about facts that they
emphasize, which ends up influencing how they vote and, as a result, which rule of
law they apply.

A good case brief follows a structure with several features. Firstly, there is an
introduction that describes the nature of the problem. Basically, professionals
provide a statement of the relevant law in quotation marks followed by a summary
of the complaint (in case of a civil case) or the indictment (in case of a criminal
case). Then, there is a summary of relevant evidence and arguments that identify
the issue as involving illegal conduct. Finally, individuals include a summary of
actions taken by lower courts (such as conviction of the defendant), conviction
upheld by an appellate court, or granting of certiorari by the Supreme Court.

Issues

In preparing a case brief, a practitioner or student states issues or questions of law

that facts peculiar to the issue raise explicitly. Basically, professionals should focus
on the judge(s) who misstate questions raised by the case’s nature, opinion of the
lower court, or parties on appeal. In constitutional cases, a practitioner or student
of the law should note multiple issues that interest litigants, lawyers, court officials,
and citizens. Also, an appellate court’s decision may challenge the meaning of a
provision of a statute, the Constitution, or a judicial doctrine. In turn, a practitioner
or student captures that provision when restating the issue and ensure they do so
with quotation marks or by underlining. Also, this exercise helps individuals later
when they try to reconcile conflicting cases.

A law professional phrase issues based on questions that one can answer with a
precise “yes” or “no.” For example, in the famous Brown v. Board of Education case,
the issue was the applicability of a provision of the 14th Amendment to the US
Constitution to the practice by the school board of excluding Black pupils from
certain public schools based on race. The Amendment reads: “no state shall… deny
any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” In turn, a law
professional preparing a brief would, as a matter of priority, identify the key
phrases from the Amendment and decide which of them were central to the
problem.

Assuming that the school board was acting as the State and that Miss Brown lived
“within its jurisdiction,” the key issue would be Does excluding students from a
public school based on race amount to a denial of ‘equal protection of the laws’? Of
course, the implications of this case were significant and exceeded the interests of
the parties involved. For once, the case revealed the tradition of the US Supreme
Court of validating prior decisions that stated restricting Black Americans to
“separate but equal” facilities did not deny them “equal protection of the laws.”
Therefore, in making a case brief, law professionals must note such implications in
their statement of issues at the conclusion of the brief, where they make personal
observations and comments.
Decisions/Holdings

In a case brief, the decision is the answer that the court provides to a question
before it courtesy of parties involved or its [the court] reading of the case. In stating
this decision, law professionals take notes of narrow procedural holdings, such as
“case reversed and remanded.” Basically, they should also notice broader
substantive holdings based on the interpretation of the statute, Constitution, or
judicial doctrines. Where central issues are precise, the decision is a simple “yes” or
“no” or short statements that a practitioner or student of the law derives from the
court’s language.

Reasoning/Rationale

In a case brief, the reasoning is the chain of argument that acts as the basis of the
judges’ decision, both in the concurring and dissenting opinions. For instance,
judges do not decide without giving a reasoned argument that highlights facts and
rules relevant to the problem. Basically, they do it by outlining events and issues
point by point in numbered sentences or paragraphs. In turn, this chain of
argument acts as the rationale for the final decision, which can either agree with
the concurring, also majority’s, opinion, or dissent from that opinion.

Separate Opinions

When writing a case brief, a law professional should subject both concurring and
dissenting opinions to the same depth of analysis to reveal areas of agreement or
disagreement with the majority opinion. Here, they should state how each judge
voted and how they lined up. By familiarizing themselves with how judges of a
particular court usually line up on specific issues, law professionals can anticipate
how they [judges] are likely to vote in future cases involving similar items.

Analysis

The most significant activity in preparing a case brief involves evaluating the
significance of the issue, its relationship to other cases, and place in history. For
example, it involves determining what the case tells about the court, its official, and
its decision-making processes. Also, such aspects consist of a determination of how
the case affects litigants, government, or society. In short, analysis entails
determining the impact of the case, and law professionals must probe the judges’
implicit assumptions and values, the “rightness” of the decision in question, and the
logic of the reasoning.
 Technical Requirements for Writing a Good Case Brief
When writing a case brief, there are certain elements that a law professional should
consider. These include:

 The case title and names of the parties involved, what transpired factually

and procedurally, and the decision.
 Issues – The cause of disputes between parties.
 Holding – The rule of law that judges have applied in their decision.
 Rationale – Reasons for the decision.
 Dicta – Commentary on the decision that did not influence the final decision.
 Dissent – The opinion that is contrary to the concurring or majority’s opinion.
 Party’s Arguments – Opposing argument from each party about the
ultimate issue.
 Comments – A personal commentary about the case.
 Facts of the Case – Details about what transpired to cause a dispute
between the parties.
 Procedural History – Events within the legal system that led to the present
issue.
 Judgment – The court’s decision on the matter before it.