How to Write a Case Brief: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet

The case briefing has a long history in legal studies as a proven method for reviewing and analyzing judicial opinions.

Whether you are a law student trying to master case briefing or an attorney looking to relearn this skill to litigate more effectively, this blog post provides a helpful cheat sheet for making briefing handling more effective.

As for legal information about your own cases, book a demo with Clio to see how our practice management solution can help you organize case and document information and increase your productivity.

Remember: the most important part of a file is the thought you put into it, so don’t expect to be use AI for this purpose.

Contrary to legal briefsbriefs are not submitted to the court or opposing counsel. Instead, briefs can help a lawyer or law student digest relevant legal opinions and discuss them in depth. This is an obvious advantage for an appellate or trial lawyer during oral argument, or for a law student facing Socratic-style questioning from a professor.

Some basic elements of a brief include summaries of the facts, procedural history, the main legal issue in the case, and the court’s decision. However, there are other essential steps in writing a useful case brief.

Steps to Write a Case Brief

Here are some essential steps for writing a case brief.

1. Examine the case carefully

Before you begin the actual drafting of the brief, you must carefully read the entire judicial opinion. The first time you may just be looking to get an overview of the case. In subsequent readings, you should begin to identify key facts and issues and analyze the court’s reasoning.

2. Case Name and Citation

Start your brief with the name of the case and the citation. Although the citation is necessary for reference and research purposes, it also serves other purposes. It will include the names of the parties as well as the year and jurisdiction where the case was decided.

3. Describe the facts of the case

In this section, you will describe the relevant facts that led to the filing of the complaint. A simple proposition applies both here and to the brief as a whole: it should be brief and not a repetition of the entire judicial opinion. Therefore, your facts section should only be a summary of the facts most relevant to the overall analysis of the case. Several readings will likely be necessary for this determination.

Also be sure to clearly name the parties involved in your summary of facts. Clarify who the plaintiff and defendant were at the trial court level (for civil cases) and avoid calling the parties “appellant” or “defendant,” since any party can appeal. An abbreviated term for a party may also be helpful for ease of review, such as “Abbott” for Abbott Laboratories.

4. Describe the history of the procedure

Next, you must describe the procedural history that led to the case being brought before the court that made the decision. This should include the relevant causes of action in the complaint. (Another practice is to include the filing of the original complaint in the facts section).

Next, state the trial court’s decision that led to the appeal, such as granting a:

• motion to dismiss,
• motion for summary judgment, or
• motion for a new trial.

If the case has already been reviewed by an appeals court, include that court’s decision as well.

5. State the legal problem

The legal question is the legal question that the court resolves with this opinion. These will not be questions of fact, since they are within the sole jurisdiction of the finder of fact (whether a judge or a jury). However, you must include key facts relating to the legal issue in dispute.

For law students, the legal issue can be gleaned by examining why your law student assigned the case to you or why it is included in the textbook.

For lawyers, the legal issue will likely be related to why you – or your opponent – ​​are citing the case in the first place.

6. State the court’s decision and reasoning

The court’s decision is about how it resolved the legal problem, that is, how it answered the legal question. This position should be formulated as close to a “yes” or “no” as possible. Be sure to briefly outline the legal justification for the court’s decision.

7. Summarize the rule of law applied by the court

The rule of law is the legal principle applied by the court in making its decision. For law students, this will be the main takeaway from the case, as intended by your professor. For lawyers, this will be the main point why you or your opponent is making the case. Many appellate decisions directly state the rule of law, but this is not always the case.

8. Concurring and dissenting opinions

The final step of summarizing the concurring and dissenting opinions may be optional, depending on the circumstances. These opinions may include interesting alternative analyzes of the case. If you include these summaries, be sure to explain why a judge decided to write his or her separate opinion.

Different briefing approaches

There are several different approaches to presenting your dissertation. Note that these are also common law school exam answer patterns.

• IRAQ. The most well-known structure for case briefing, this acronym stands for “Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion.” The motion generally covers the court’s reasoning, while the conclusion covers the court’s decision.
• EXECUTION. Problem, conclusion, rule, application. This is more of a stylistic difference from the IRAC, it moves the Conclusion section to the beginning of the dissertation.
• CRACK. Conclusion, Rule, Application, Conclusion. It is best used when you want to emphasize the court’s conclusion in your brief.
• CRÉAC. Conclusion, Rule, Explanation, Application, Conclusion. The Explanation section can expand on the court’s reasoning.

Note that all of these structures come after the facts and procedural history and focus on the analysis of the case.

Common Mistakes to Avoid During Case Briefing

Several common mistakes are made in case briefs.

Overloading the brief with irrelevant details

A case brief is intended to be a brief summary of the case. Avoid overloading your memory with innocuous facts, procedural twists and side arguments. Stick to the essentials of the analysis.

Neglecting procedural history

Procedural history is important to understanding how the court applied the law and reached its conclusion. If you neglect to include this information, your dissertation may be difficult to review and understand later.

Misidentifying the legal problem

The legal issue of the case may be the most important element of the brief. If you misidentify this problem, your rule of law and analysis will also be wrong.

Write the brief for someone other than yourself

It is important to remember that the brief is not intended for a judge, an opposing attorney, or a law professor. Unlike many legal writinga dissertation is written for your reference. Lawyers may view a brief as a document legal note. Therefore, do not be obsessed with proper formatting to the extent that you waste too much time or fail to properly analyze the case.

File template

The following is a potential template to use for a case presentation, using the IRAC structure:

Name and case citation: _____

Facts: _____

History of the procedure: _____

Issue: _____

Ruler: _____

Application: _____

Conclusion: _____

Subsequent _____

Treatment (if applicable):

Final Thoughts on Writing a Case Brief

For lawyers and law students, presenting a case can be an essential tool for success. Follow this guide to raise your records.

After the Case Briefing has helped you organize your research and legal arguments, learn how Clio can help you organize your existing cases and keep your practice running smoothly. Schedule a demo NOW.

We published this blog post in December 2024. Last update: December 18, 2024.

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