Lesson 1 Discussion B
Case briefs
are a necessary study aid in law school that helps to encapsulate and analyze the
mountainous mass of material that law students must digest; represent a final product after
reading a case, rereading it, taking it apart, and putting it back together again
1
.
In other words, a
case brief is a summary of a legal proceeding with the four main elements that are formatted into
an outline format.
The main four elements are...
a)
Facts (name of the case and its parties, what happened factually and procedurally, and the
judgment)
b)
Issues (what is in dispute)
c)
Holding (the applied rule of law)
d)
Rationale (reasons for the holding)
IRAC method
is another format for briefing a case, in a sense.
The IRAC method in law is the
heart of legal analysis. It allows you to think about any problem as an equation with two sides
2
of
a case like torts.
Also, the IRAC format simplifies legal reasoning to the application of a
formula
3
.
There are main four elements of the IRAC format like case brief format...
a)
Issue, that defines the legal issue
b)
Relevant law, that explains the applicable law
c)
Application, applying the law to the facts of the case
d)
Conclusion, answering the issue
1
https://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/lawschool/pre-law/how-to-brief-a-case.page
2
https://www.iracmethod.com/irac-methodology
3
Id
