16 Feb preparing a case brief
Order Instructions
When you are reading a case and preparing a case brief on it, the brief must include the
following information:
1. Who are the parties to the suit? (who is suing whom?) You must include ALL
parties to the lawsuit.
2. What are the issues to be resolved by the appellate court? Remember, the case
reached the appellate court only after a trial or summary proceeding in the lower
court and there had to have been a winner and loser in the lower court. Therefore,
at least one party will be claiming that the lower court erred (or made a mistake)
when it took some action in the case before it. Issues therefore are typically
framed as “whether the trial court erred when it (did whatever it did).”
3. What ruling did the appellate court make with respect to each issue presented on
appeal? In this section, the answer is usually “yes, the court erred when it (did
whatever it did)”, “no, the court did not err when it (did whatever it did)”; or “yes,
it erred it part”
4. What were the facts presented in the lower court that gave rise to the issues on
appeal? This means relevant facts so you need to sift through the facts to
determine what is important.
5. What reasoning did the court use to arrive at its ruling on each issue? For
example, did it look to statute? To precedent? If so, what cases or law did it rely
on to make its determination. In this section, you need to EXPLAIN why the
appellate court reached the decision it reached. Do not just cite a case or statute
in this section but if the court relied on one in reaching its decision, explain why
that case or statute was relevant to the ultimate decision.
