2. Reading / briefing court cases....

3.  Only manner in which law can be truly understood  Applicability of law in practice  Answers to legal issues found in case law  Indicator of legal development

4. In practice: have to keep up with large volume of cases Time constraints – you will rarely have time to leisurely read many cases Studying law – cannot understand the law without reading cases INTERVIEWS! Future employers will expect you to proficiently read & summarise cases during interviews…

5. CASE NAME – Who are the parties? COURT – Hierarchy & precedent PRESIDING OFFICER/S DATE – To trace development of law KEYWORDS – Indicate essence of case HEADNOTE – Gives a brief summary NATURE OF CASE – What is it about? LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES FACTS & ISSUE LAW – Applicable & applicable to facts FINDING & RATIONALE ALLOCATION OF COSTS

6. PROCESS... Study names of the roleplayers... Identify the roles: plaintiff / accused / applicant??? Court a quo / appeal? Note additional info (lawyers, judge, date, etc.) Read through the case once Facts (briefly!) NB!

7. PROCESS... cont. Legal issue  Can be obvious – Can a person...? / The question / issue here is...”  Not clear  PHRASE ISSUE IN YOUR OWN WORDS Law – what law did presiding officer use?  Primary law? Secondary law?  Precedent? Finding  What was the outcome of the case? Guilty / not / confirmed?  Ratio vs Obiter  Costs / sentence?? NB!

8. You MUST be able to give a case brief in the spoken word! Remember: you are becoming a lawyer, not a writer....

9. Remember to complete class exercise 7...