BUSA 2106 Notes SAMPLE BRIEF Gray cop v Martino crime victim Procedural History Cop sues for reward money District court awards money to the cop Defendant appeals Issue At the time the contract was formed was the plaintiff acting as a police officer charged with a legal duty to catch criminals without further reward Facts Plaintiff makes a verbal contract with defendant In return for 500 plaintiff will find defendant s stolen jewels Plaintiff had knowledge of whereabouts of jewels at contract formation Plaintiff is a special police officer and has dealings with prosecutor s office Defendant published advertisement for reward Plaintiff finds stolen goods and arranges return Rule of Law 1 A public officer cannot demand or receive remuneration or a reward for carrying out the duty of his job as a matter of public policy and morality 2 However it is not against public policy for a police officer to receive a reward in performance of his legal duty if the legislature passes a statute giving the reward to the public at large in furtherance of some public policy such as preventing treason against the US Reasoning Court finds sufficient evidence to characterize this fellow as a public official His interaction with the prosecutor s office weighed in as a factor in suggesting he had a legal duty Since he is characterized within the rule as a public official he cannot as a matter of law receive a reward for the performance of his duties Holding Court reverses decision of lower court in favor of the plaintiff since he was characterized as a public official Another STUDENT BRIEFS These can be extensive or short depending on the depth of analysis required and the demands of the instructor A comprehensive brief includes the following elements 1 Title and Citation 2 Facts of the Case 3 Issues 4 Decisions Holdings 5 Reasoning Rationale 6 Separate Opinions 7 Analysis 1 Title and Citation The title of the case shows who is opposing whom The name of the person who initiated legal action in that particular court will always appear first Since the losers often appeal to a higher court this can get confusing The first section of this guide shows you how to identify the players without a scorecard The citation tells how to locate the reporter of the case in the appropriate case reporter If you know only the title of the case the citation to it can be found using the case digest covering that court or one of the computer assisted legal research tools Westlaw or LEXIS NEXIS 2 Facts of the Case A good student brief will include a summary of the pertinent facts and legal points raised in the case It will show the nature of the litigation who sued whom based on what occurrences and what happened in the lower court s The facts are often conveniently summarized at the beginning of the court s published opinion Sometimes the best statement of the facts will be found in a dissenting or concurring opinion WARNING Judges are not above being selective about the facts they emphasize This can become of crucial importance when you try to reconcile apparently inconsistent cases because the way a judge chooses to characterize and edit the facts often determines which way he or she will vote and as a result which rule of law will be applied The fact section of a good student brief will include the following elements A one sentence description of the nature of the case to serve as an introduction A statement of the relevant law with quotation marks or underlining to draw attention to the key words or phrases that are in dispute A summary of the complaint in a civil case or the indictment in a criminal case plus relevant evidence and arguments presented in court to explain who did what to whom and why the case was thought to involve illegal conduct A summary of actions taken by the lower courts for example defendantconvicted conviction upheld by appellate court Supreme Court granted certiorari 3 Issues The issues or questions of law raised by the facts peculiar to the case are often stated explicitly by the court Again watch out for the occasional judge who misstates the questions raised by the lower court s opinion by the parties on appeal or by the nature of the case Constitutional cases frequently involve multiple issues some of interest only to litigants and lawyers others of broader and enduring significant to citizens and officials alike Be sure you have included both With rare exceptions the outcome of an appellate case will turn on the meaning of a provision of the Constitution a law or a judicial doctrine Capture that provision or debated point in your restatement of the issue Set it off with quotation marks or underline it This will help you later when you try to reconcile conflicting cases When noting issues it may help to phrase them in terms of questions that can be answered with a precise yes or no For example the famous case of Brown v Board of Education involved the applicability of a provision of the 14th Amendment to the U S Constitution to a school board s practice of excluding black pupils from certain public schools solely due to their race The precise wording of the Amendment is no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws The careful student would begin by identifying the key phrases from this amendment and deciding which of them were really at issue in this case Assuming that there was no doubt that the school board was acting as the State and that Miss Brown was a person within its jurisdiction then the key issue would be Does the exclusion of students from a public school solely on the basis of race amount to a denial of equal protection of the laws Of course the implications of this case went far beyond the situation of Miss Brown the Topeka School Board or even public education They cast doubt on the continuing validity of prior decisions in which the Supreme Court had held that restriction of Black Americans to separate but equal facilities did not deny them equal protection of the laws Make note of any such implications in your statement of issues at the end of the brief in which you set out your observations and comments NOTE More students misread cases because they fail to see the issues in terms of the applicable law or judicial doctrine than for any other reason There is no substitute for taking the time to frame carefully the questions so that they actually incorporate the key provisions of the law in terms capable of being given precise