Briefing, in brief

Briefing cases is one of the main skills needed for law school. We read a handful of cases for each class each week, and it's important to take notes for reference both in class and for exam preparation at the end of the semester.

I've found some success using the following six components. Some people brief more, some less, but this works for me (at least in Criminal Law. In Constitutional Law where we read seminal cases like Marbury v. Madison this probably doesn't cover enough detail).

Caption: What's the name of the case? What reference is given in the text? Which court heard it? When?

Facts: In your own words, explain what happened. Tell the story.

Procedure: How did the case get here? You rarely read trial court (bottom level of courts) decisions. You usually read an appeal, or an appeal of an appeal. So what happened in the lower courts? Who appealed?

Issue: Sort through all the facts above--what is the main issue the court is addressing?

Holding: And what did the court decide? This should be brief: "The court upheld the conviction."

Reasoning: Why did the court decide it? What was their rationale?

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I don't always get all the issues in a case. I hope that as I gain more experience that I'll become more skilled. So I add to my notes based on the discussion in class, especially in Constitutional Law!

Nevertheless, briefing is essential. I was in class this morning and the professor asked a student to tell the class about a case. It seemed like the guy had read it before, but he was skimming the text and blathering. I was looking at my notes, and I could have answered in a sentence or two what this kid struggled through for two minutes!

Textbook Hack

I read on metafilter a great idea for hacking textbooks so I don't have to carry around case books all day. The metafilter contributor brought his books to a copy store, but I did it myself to save money.

The idea is to cut the books off of their binding, punch holes in them, and then only take the pages you need for the week.

Here it is, step by step:
















Gather your supplies: 3" or 4" binder, hole punch, case book, ruler, utility knife

















Place the ruler flush against the spine. Hold the ruler firmly down, while drawing the utility knife down the page. If I pressed the knife down I could get about twenty pages in a single pass.
















(The book, with about 75% of the pages cut out)
















Then use a three-hole punch to punch three holes (!).
















Because the pages are not quite 11" long, you can't use the bottom edge of the punch to align the pages. I used the top of the punch, and tried to line the top of the pages up as consistently as possible.
















(All the pages in the binder)
















I think I might get a 3" binder next time. This one is 4" and is quite unwieldy.
















I even put the cover in the binder!
















Here's the payoff: bringing 20 pages of Criminal Law to class instead of 1100!

1L

Here I am, starting my journey in law school.

Actually, I started about three weeks ago. After seven business days of orientation (Thursday, Friday and then Monday - Friday of the next week), classes started Wednesday September 2nd.

I'm taking a typical first year schedule:
Legal Research and Writing
Criminal Law
Constitutional Law
Civil Procedure

Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are pretty long: I go from about 8:30 to 3:00. But then Tuesdays and Fridays I only have one class from 9:30 to 11:00.

I'm kind of surprised at how long the classes go. My Criminal Law class is two hours and fifteen minutes. That's a lot of lecture. It's intense, but I guess that's the name of the game in law school!