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The Need to Make
Written Case Briefs
Professor Byron Warnken and Professor Elizabeth Samuels
University of Baltimore School
of Law
| A written case brief is an analytical summary of a judicial opinion.
A written case brief should not be confused with an appellate brief submitted
by an attorney to an appellate court. The process of preparing a
case brief helps the law student understand the case, and the completed
brief can be a valuable document for preparing for class, analyzing cases
in class, reviewing after class, making outlines in preparation for midterm
or final examinations, and studying for those exams. . . . . Learning
how to prepare case briefs is an essential part of the research and analysis
work students must perform in order to write their memoranda of law and
appellate brief.
The appropriate length of a written case brief is a function of the complexity of the case, the sophistication of the briefer, and the purposes for which the brief is made. Briefing style and briefing length evolve rapidly during the first semester of law school. During the first month of law school, in particular, a new law student should review briefs that he or she prepares for quality and length. If upon subsequent review, the student needs to "brief the case brief" in order to have a workable tool, then the case brief is too long. On the other hand, if upon subsequent review, the case brief does not contain enough information to permit sufficient recall of the case, then the case brief is too short. There may be as many briefing techniques as there are briefers. . . . [There are] six different techniques: (1) the "maxi brief"Only the first two types of these six methods are good briefing techniques for law students. And before the student switches to the shorter of those two types of briefing formats, he or she should have a good idea of how to produce a high quality maxi brief. The ability to carefully and completely brief cases can aid the student's law school performance immeasurably. |
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Law School Boot Camp |
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Passing the Bar Supplemental Coaching |
| February 2008 Bar Application Deadline November 30, 2007 |
| July 2008 Bar Application Deadline March 30, 2008 |
