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hey guys

so i just started using the machines and

its great because there are summaries and all

but do these programs actually have case briefs that we ourselves would think of in the format of

facts:
issue:
holding:
rule:
rationale:

blah blah. they dont seem to have it like this in particular

any input?

thanks!

using the machines???

eta: no they don't have that.

Dude. Google "palsgraf v long island railroad case brief" (or whatever)

There you go.

Both Lexis and West offer case summaries. Enter the citation into Lexis/West and check it out.

There are better ways to get case briefs.

No one outside of law professors gives 1/10th of one crap about case briefs, so why would West / Lexis waste their time on that?

Try http://www.lawnix.com

Having barely used lexis, I've come across analyses of cases that are quite similar to case briefs for each case I looked up, but they're not a good substitute for a brief, as the analysis can be quite detailed and run several pages

I know the general benefits of briefing, but come test time, do you rely on your briefs at all? Put another way, do you study cases for an exam or are the briefs just ignored at the end of your classes?

shredderrrrrr wrote:I know the general benefits of briefing, but come test time, do you rely on your briefs at all? Put another way, do you study cases for an exam or are the briefs just ignored at the end of your classes?

No, at the end of the semester, briefs are scrapped and all of the important stuff should be in your outline.

shredderrrrrr wrote:I know the general benefits of briefing, but come test time, do you rely on your briefs at all? Put another way, do you study cases for an exam or are the briefs just ignored at the end of your classes?

No, briefs are worthless. The main thing to take away from cases is "why are we reading this case?" So it's not really necessary to know the facts or anything in, for example, Iqbal or Twombly, just know that they changed pleading standards, and from what to what. Shouldn't be more than a sentence or two at the most.

kalvano wrote:

shredderrrrrr wrote:I know the general benefits of briefing, but come test time, do you rely on your briefs at all? Put another way, do you study cases for an exam or are the briefs just ignored at the end of your classes?

No, briefs are worthless. The main thing to take away from cases is "why are we reading this case?" So it's not really necessary to know the facts or anything in, for example, Iqbal or Twombly, just know that they changed pleading standards, and from what to what. Shouldn't be more than a sentence or two at the most.

Agree that briefs don't have a ton of value, but you take it too far. Remembering the basic fact patterns of the major cases is important. If an issue pops up on the exam with facts similar to a case that was discussed, that better be included in your discussion. That's true whether you're arguing the case should go one way because it's similar to case X, or should go the other way because case X can be distinguished.

Lexis sometimes has that. Look for "case in brief" pdfs.