Briefing a case LAW 3000

Holding

How did the court who wrote the decision decide the issues? I.e. - who won? What was the result?

Procedure

How did this case come to the court that wrote the decision you are briefing? You start by stating who started the law suit and in what court and why. Who received the favorable decision in that court and by what means: was it a jury trial, summary judgment, trial to the court, etc. You do the same for each court the case goes through until you get to the court that wrote the decision you are briefing.

Respondent

If a case goes to the United States Supreme Court the party defending

Petitioner

If a case goes to the United States Supreme Court the party filing the appeal in the Supreme Court

Facts

Summarize only those facts that are critical to the outcome of the case. Most cases will have a lot of unnecessary facts and that is why you must read the entire case before summarizing the facts. Remember, this is a "BRIEF".

Issues

What is this court being asked to decide? These are the central question or questions on which the case turns.

The parties

Who are the parties involved in the suit and what are their roles? In the original court, there will always be a plaintiff (the party bringing the suit) and a defendant (the party being sued). Each case in the court of appeals will have an appellant (normally the party who lost in the trial court and who is taking the case to the next higher court). The appellant may have been the plaintiff or the defendant in the lower court. And there will be an appellee (normally the party who won in the trial court and who is defending in the next higher court.) If a case goes to the United States Supreme Court the party filing the appeal in the Supreme Court is the Petitioner and the party defending is the Respondent. Each party will therefore have several roles: they could be plaintiff/appellant or plaintiff/appellee, or defendant/appellant or defendant/appellee or they could be plaintiff/appellant/petitioner or plaintiff/appellee/petitioner, or plaintiff/appellant/respondent or plaintiff/appellee/respondent or defendant/appellant/petitioner or defendant/appellant/respondent or defendant/appellee/petitioner or defendant/appellee/respondent.

Reasoning

Why did the court reach the decision in Number 5?

appellant

normally the party who lost in the trial court and who is taking the case to the next higher court

appellee

normally the party who won in the trial court and who is defending in the next higher court

Defendant

the party being sued

Plaintiff

the party bringing the suit