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Case Brief Template

Image 1

Prepared for:

​[Defendant.FirstName][Defendant.LastName][Defendant.Company]​

Prepared by:

​[Plaintiff.FirstName][Plaintiff.LastName][Plaintiff.Company]​

A case brief is a summary of a court case, usually no more than one page in outline format. It contains all of the key elements of the case and reveals the court’s verdict. Case briefs are often used for self-study or to present a case in a simple form to other people. This case brief template uses a standard outline, and you can just fill in the blanks as needed.

Parties Involved

​[Plaintiff.FirstName][Plaintiff.LastName]/[Plaintiff.Company] is the plaintiff and [Defendant.FirstName][Defendant.LastName]/[Defendant.Company] is the defendant.

Citation

(Provide citations for what you're basing your brief on so that your audience can easily refer to the source material if needed. Include the dates of the citations.)

Procedural History

(Describe the history of the case, e.g., whether it has been in the state or federal courts, at the trial or appellate level, etc., and which court ultimately heard the case as you're presenting it now and how it ended up there.)

Issue

(State the issue before the court in a question format using one question per issue, e.g., is Defendant liable for the damages that Plaintiff incurred?)

Facts

(Describe the key, legally significant facts of the case to paint an accurate picture, e.g., the Defendant was driving his/her vehicle on ABC Road when they were distracted by taking a phone call on their cell phone and hit the rear of the Plaintiff's vehicle which was stopped at a red light.)

  • Fact #1

  • Fact #2

  • Fact #3

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Stick to the most relevant facts of the case without getting too into the weeds. Depending on the case’s complexity, the facts shouldn’t typically be more than a paragraph. For example, you need to describe how a car accident occurred, but you probably don’t need to get into the details of the color, make, etc., unless those are relevant to the case somehow.

Rule of Law

(State the rule of law being applied in the court, e.g., is the court applying manslaughter charges or homicide, and why?)

Reasoning

Based on the facts and the rule of law, the court finds that (state the position that the court held based on the various facts and rules of law that have been presented).

The reasoning section of a case brief should deal with the question of how the court reached the decision it ultimately did, not so much what the decision was. The verdict itself will be presented in the following “Judgment” section of the brief.

Judgment

The court decides that [Defendant.FirstName][Defendant.LastName]/ [Defendant.Company] is (verdict).

Dissent (optional)

Clearly state the outcome of the court and what measures must be taken as a result, e.g., was a motion granted or denied, was the defendant found guilty or not guilty, etc.

(If there was a dissenting opinion for the case you're reviewing, it's important to include it by writing a sentence or two about the dissenting opinion's point of view.)

A dissenting opinion often highlights potential legal issues with the reasoning used to reach a verdict, and when present, it’s important to include. That said, the dissent section is optional and may not apply to every case. If it doesn’t apply to the case you’re building a brief for, simply delete it.

​

Signature
MM / DD / YYYY

​

Signature
MM / DD / YYYY

​[Defendant.FirstName][Defendant.LastName]​

​[Defendant.Company]​

​[Plaintiff.FirstName][Plaintiff.LastName]​

​[Plaintiff.Company]​

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FAQ

  • A case brief should look like a summary of a case and include the names of the parties involved, citations, the history of the case, the main issues of the case, the key facts, the rules of law being appealed to, the reasoning used by the court, and the final judgment of the court. Case briefs typically aren’t more than one page and should include enough information for the reader to understand the case without spending too much time digging into the history. 

  • A case brief should be formatted in a clear, concise way with headers representing each section and single sentences or short paragraphs underneath providing the key details. You can use bullet points or numbered lists to present information more clearly if needed. The goal of the brief is for the reader to quickly navigate the document and gather the highlights of the case. This template has been formatted based on some of the most popular examples of case briefs and will help you present the key information in a simple, easy-to-understand way. 

  • To write a case brief template, start by laying out the essential elements of a case brief, including the parties, citations, procedural history, issues, facts, the rule of law, reasoning, and judgment. Once you have your headers and sections set up, you can use the outline as a template by duplicating the file and then filling in the relevant details of each case. To save time, you can also use this free template which already has the outline set up and the instructions for each section readily available.

  • A case brief template is a reusable document you can use to present a short, concise summary of court cases’ history and their ultimate verdict. Case briefs are simple and to-the-point documents which makes them the perfect candidate for using a template to save some time. Case brief templates like this one have the sections already arranged, and all you need to do is fill in the relevant information of your specific case.

  • A case brief is typically only one page. Depending on the case’s complexity, they can sometimes be a bit longer but never more than three pages. Case briefs typically range from 250 to 900 words, but the general rule of thumb is that the shorter the brief, the better. This template has been designed to prompt you to input only the most important and relevant information about a case.

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Case Brief Template

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A Case Brief Template is a summary of a court case that usually contains all of the case's crucial details as well as the court's ruling. It is typically no longer than one page. You can just complete the gaps as needed in this case brief form, which follows a common outline.

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