PSA: Casenote Legal Briefs are garbage Forum

[missinglink]

Use them at your own risk. Today I thought I'd look at one to allow me to skim thorough some longer cases without reading too closely. But even skimming a case demonstrated to me that these commercial briefs can't be relied upon.

In nearly half of the briefs so far, the "Rule of Law" that the supplement says is the takeaway from the case is just plain wrong. Either it's dicta from the case, or it's just an incorrect statement of the law.

I spent nearly 6 dollars on this thing used and I still feel ripped off. Considering how popular these things are, I shudder to think how many people actually rely on these exclusively.

It's the first time I've used one of these, so maybe the quality varies? Either way, back to the bargain bin with this supplement.

[YourCaptain]

A) They are indeed garbage; often the "rule" is simply a facts-based conclusion, rather than an applicable legal maxim. Use at your own risk.

B) They're best for Cold-calls when you absolutely didn't do or comprehend the assigned case in any way. At the very least you'll get an orientation of what's going on.

[Knuckles]

A) They are indeed garbage; often the "rule" is simply a facts-based conclusion, rather than an applicable legal maxim. Use at your own risk.

B) They're best for Cold-calls when you absolutely didn't do or comprehend the assigned case in any way. At the very least you'll get an orientation of what's going on.

In the event that I forget of a case or whatever, I open up the Lexis/Westlaw brief on my laptop before class, and refer to it as we go along. By the time we are beyond the facts, I've already caught up with the casebook material so all I need is a shortcut to the holding if the judge was verbose (or from 300 years ago) and the online ones are pretty good about that. I feel like, while a teacher might know what's up, it's slightly less obvious than looking at a hard-copy supplement.