CHAPTER 5 How to Brief a Case

The Bluebook Rule 5 - Quotations Quotes of fifty or more words are blocked with no quotation marks Quotes of 49 words or less are set in quotation marks and placed in the text Periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks All other punctuation marks are placed outside quotation marks if part of the quote

Components of a Case Brief Name and citation of case Judicial history Facts Issue(s) Rules Analysis Decision

Components of a Case Brief Rules Primary sources of law carry the most weight and should the focus of research Constitutions Statutes Case Law Administrative Regulations

Components of a Case Brief Writing Each component should be written as a separate section and labeled with a heading A certain amount of redundancy is to be expected

Components of a Case Brief Analysis Separate all relevant, explanatory and legally unimportant facts Look for: Factual similarities Factual unknowns (gaps) Factual differences

Approaching a Legal Research Project Case briefs are only a part of most projects Be sure to understand the directions Create an outline Fill in with key words Decide on approach used Chronological By court Write one section at a time Keep notes for checking quotes and citations

Approaching a Legal Research Project (continued) Summarize pertinent documents Organize summary using same format as document Reflect, but don’t change document Continue to review directions Edit Grammatical errors “Voice” problems Consistence Effectiveness