Pre-Trial briefs are exchanged between parties at a

date set during the pre-trial conference to argue matters

under consideration before trial.[1]
Trial briefs are presented at trial to resolve a disputed
point of evidence.
Legal briefs are used as part of arguing a pre-trial
motion in a case or proceeding.
Merit briefs (or briefs on the merits) refers to briefs on
the inherent rights and wrongs of a case, absent any
emotional or technical biases
Amicus briefs refer to briefs filed by persons not
directly party to the case. These are often groups that
have a direct interest in the outcome.
Appellate briefs refer to briefs that occur at the appeal
stage.
Memorandum of law may be another word for brief,
although that term may also be used to describe an
internal document in a law firm in which an attorney
attempts to analyze a client's legal position without
arguing for a specific interpretation of the law.
IRAC Case Briefs Are usually a one page review done
by a paralegal or attorney, ultimately used by the
attorney to find previously decided cases by
an Appellate court, in State or Federal Jurisdiction,
which show how the courts have ruled on earlier similar
cases in court.

Function[edit]
The brief or memorandum establishes
the legal argument for the party,
explaining why the reviewing court
should affirm or reverse the lower court's
judgment based on legal precedent and
citations to the controlling cases or
statutory law. To achieve these ends, the
brief must appeal to the accepted forces
such as statutory law or precedent, but
may also include policy arguments and
social statistics when appropriate. For
example, if the law is vague or broad
enough to allow the appellate judge
some discretion in his decision making,
an exploration of the consequences of
the possible decision outside of legal
formalism may provide guidance. Such
arguments may also support a legal
argument when the purpose of the law at
issue may be clear, but the particular
application of that law in service of that
purpose is in dispute.

Procedure[edit]
The party filing the appeal – called
the petitioner or appellant, who is
attempting to convince the appellate
court to overturn the lower court decision
– is responsible for submitting his brief
first. The responding party – the
respondent or appellee, who is satisfied
with the lower decision – then files a
reply brief within a specified time.
Depending on the local rules of
procedure, the court may allow or even
require the parties to then file additional
replies to the opposing party's briefs,
multiplying the back-and-forth responses
of the parties. Depending on local rules,
the court may then decide the case
purely based on the submitted briefs or
may hear oral argument by the parties.

England[edit]
Upon a barrister devolves the duty of
taking charge of a case when it comes
into court, but all the preliminary work,
such as the drawing up of the case,
serving papers, marshalling evidence,
etc., is performed by a solicitor. The
delivery of a brief to counsel gives him
authority to act for his client in all matters
which the litigation involves.
The brief was probably so called from its
first being only a copy of the original writ.
Contents[edit]
A brief contains a concise summary for
the information of counsel of the case
which the barrister has to plead, with all
material facts in chronological order, and
frequently such observations thereon as
the solicitor may think fit to make, the
names of witnesses, with the "proofs,"
that is, the nature of the evidence which
each witness is ready to give, if called
upon. The brief may also contain
suggestions for the use of counsel when
cross-examining witnesses called by the
other side. Accompanying the brief may
be copies of the pleadings, and of all
documents material to the case. The
brief is always endorsed with the title of
the court in which the action is to be
tried, with the title of the action, and the
names of the counsel and of the solicitor
who delivers the brief. Counsel's fee is
also marked. The result of the action is
noted on the brief by counsel, or if the
action is compromised, the terms of the
compromise are endorsed on each brief
and signed by the leading counsel on the
opposite side.
Brief bag[edit]
The brief-bag, in which counsel's papers
are carried to and from court, now forms
an integral part of a barrister's outfit,
although today it is used primarily to
carry counsel's robes. In the early part of
the 19th century the possession of a
brief-bag was strictly confined to those
who had received one from a king's
counsel (silk). King's counsel were then
few in number, were considered officers
of the court, and had a salary of £40 a
year, with a supply of paper, pens and
purple bags. These bags they distributed
among rising juniors of their
acquaintance, whose bundles of briefs
were getting inconveniently large to be
carried in their hands. These perquisites
were abolished in 1830.
Brief-bags are now either blue or red.
Blue bags are those with which barristers
provide themselves when first called,
and, in some jurisdictions, it is a breach
of etiquette to let this bag be visible in
court. The only brief-bag allowed to be
placed on the desks is the red bag, which
by English legal etiquette is given by a
leading counsel to a junior as a reward
for excellence in some important case.
This is still viewed as one of the great
traditions of the bar. The red bag is
embroidered with the junior barrister’s
initials and a handwritten note of thanks
is usually placed inside the bag. In many
jurisdictions, the receipt of a red bag from
a silk is seen as a rite of passage for a
junior barrister.
The use of such special bags eventually
led to the briefcase.
Ecclesiastical[edit]
In English ecclesiastical law a brief
meant letters patent issued out
of chancery to churchwardens or other
officers for the collection of money for
church purposes. Such briefs were
regulated by a statute of 1704, but are
now obsolete, though they are still to be
found named in one of the rubrics in the
Communion service of the Book of
Common Prayer.

United States[edit]
In the United States, the word differs in
meaning from its English counterpart
because attorneys in the United
States exercise all the functions
distributed in England between barristers
and solicitors. A lawyer sometimes
prepares for his own use what is called a
"trial brief" for use at the trial. This
corresponds in all essential particulars
with the "brief" prepared by the solicitor in
England for the use of counsel.
But the more distinctive use of the term in
America is in the case of the brief "in
error or appeal," before an appellate
court. This is a written or printed
document, varying according to
circumstances, but embodying the
argument on the question affected. Most
of the appellate courts require the filing of
printed briefs for the use of the court and
opposing counsel at a time designated
for each side before hearing. In the rules
of the United States Supreme Court and
circuit courts of appeals the brief is
required to contain a concise statement
of the case, a specification of errors
relied on, including the substance of
evidence, the admission or rejection of
which is to be reviewed, or any extract
from a charge excepted to, and an
argument exhibiting clearly the points of
law or fact to be discussed. This form of
brief, it may be added, is also adopted for
use at the trial in certain states of the
Union which require printed briefs to be
delivered to the court.
Contents[edit]
In American courts, the brief typically has
the following parts: a table of contents;
a table of authorities listing the
cases, statutes, and regulations that are
cited; a presentation of the issues under
review by the court, usually in only one
sentence if possible; a statement of the
case that presents the relevant facts and
the previous history of the case in the
lower courts; a summary of the legal
standard of review that the appellate
court should use in evaluating the
decision of the lower court; a summary of
the party's argument; and the full
discussion of the legal and/or policy
arguments explaining why the party
believes it should win the case, which will
be the most lengthy portion of the brief.
The brief may also be accompanied by
an appendix that includes copies of the
lower court opinions and other
documents or court opinions cited in the
brief. The particular required format of
briefs is a matter of local court procedural
rules.

Elsewhere[edit]
In Scotland a brief is called a memorial
and in Canada it is called a factum. In
Australia the tradition regarding briefs is
almost identical to England, except that
the use of brief bags is relatively
uncommon. In Dutch and German, the
word brief refers to a regular letter.

Professional vs. student

briefs[edit]
In North American law schools, students
usually study historical cases by
"briefing" them. Law school briefs are
shorter than court briefs but follow a
similar structure: presentation of issue,
presentation of facts, presentation of
legal and policy arguments and
presentation of outcome. For more
information see this guide on How to
Brief a Case. [2] In the United States, the
practice of briefing cases for study began
at Harvard Law School in the fall of 1870
with the introduction of the case method
of teaching by Professor Christopher
Columbus Langdell. Case briefing is a
widely accepted pedagogical method
among law professors today.

IRAC Case Briefing[edit]

IRAC is an Abbreviation of Issue, Rule,
Analysis (or some say Application),
Conclusion. When a potential client has
an interview with an attorney and tells of
the legal problem, the attorney, or office
paralegal, will review prior case law to
find out if the client does indeed have a
problem that has legal remedy.
The formation of each case brief follows
the same pattern: Facts, Issue, Rule,
 Analysis, Impact. A case brief may also
include a dissent or concurrence if there
is either in the particular case. The facts
should include the important information
from the case, and should also include
the procedural history before it makes it
to the supreme court. The issue
statement should always be in the form
of a question that will be answered in the
rule section.
Some schools prefer students to list the
Facts, Issue, Holding, and Reasoning.

See also[edit]
Wikisource has the text of
the 1911  Encyclopædia
Britannica article Brief.

 Amicus curiae brief

References[edit]
1. ^ Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
16(C)(2)
2. ^ "Lloyd Sealy Library at John Jay
College of Criminal Justice".  Lloyd
Sealy Library at John Jay College
of Criminal Justice.

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 This page was last edited on 9 January 2020, at 14:13 (UTC).