« Biting Interviews | Main | Evil Socratic Method: Least Likely to Succeed »

October 17, 2004

Request: Case briefs v. Book briefs?

A 1L reader has a question for anyone and everyone. He writes:
I like to contribute whenever I can, but in the words of Op Ivy (yeah, I'm a geezer) "All I know is that I don't know nothin'" So, Blawgers, I pose the following question for you: At what point did you decide that you understood the briefing process well, and stop writing out briefs and relying on book briefing? As the semester wears on, I'm getting (or feeling, hard to tell the difference!) more bogged down with reading. I have a book briefing/highlighting method, but I still take the time to write out a brief. Lately though, my written briefs have been getting shorter, and I've noticed that frequently when the prof will make a point in class, it's not in my written brief, but it is in my "book brief". Am I kidding myself? Or does book briefing cut it?
Anyone? I continued to "brief" cases in a very abbreviated way throughout 1L, but in my second year I have just tried to write 1-2 sentences summarizing each case in my notes—a very very abbreviated brief. I don't really want to have to look at my book at all on an exam, and I don't want to transfer book briefs to an outline as I prepare for the exam. So that's my solution, but I'm certain there are better responses. Please send them in!

Posted by mowabb at October 17, 2004 11:18 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://mowabb.com/mt32/mt-tb.cgi/2218

Comments

I'm another 1L, although we seem to have started about two weeks before anyone else on the planet.

Anyway, I wrote up briefs following the suggested format for about two weeks, but I've quickly resorted to just highlighting key phrases and making copious margin notes in my book. It works for me. I've got a few study partners who've just started running notebooks of their reading, which includes the cases.

I've also found the "High Court Case Summaries" books to be excellent and distilling and analyzing the cases. For those that feel that supplements cheapen your experience, save yourself the $25/class. For people who are interested in useful resources, they're worth it.

Posted by: Adam at October 17, 2004 03:37 PM