How to Brief a Case and Understanding the Court System

In this episode...Margaret Hannon, Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Michigan School of Law discusses the all-important case brief, including the parts of the brief, how to brief a case, and the relationship of the case brief to the court system.Some key takeaways are:Case briefs are personal to the person briefing them, no judgmentCases for law school are edited, briefs found on the internet might not reflect the edited version of a case in the case book.Reasoning is the "protein" of the caseStare Decisis means that courts must follow their own decisions and the decisions of courts above them.About our guest...Professor Margaret C. Hannon joined the Law School faculty in 2013 as a clinical assistant professor in the Legal Practice Program. Previously, she was a clinical assistant and clinical associate professor at Northwestern Law School, where she also served as the assistant director and interim director of the legal research and writing program. In recognition of her teaching, Professor Hannon received Northwestern's Dean's Teaching Award and Dean's Teaching Award Honorable Mention. Professor Hannon practiced law at Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLP (now K&L Gates LLP). Her practice focused on labor and employment counseling and litigation, and the negotiation and administration of collective bargaining agreements.  She is an active member of the Legal Writing Institute; in addition to presenting at its academic conferences, she is a member of the awards committee and a member of the editorial board for one of its journals, The Monograph Series. Professor Hannon is an associate editor for Legal Communications & Rhetoric: JALWD, the journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors. She also is a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Legal Writing Section and the AALS Section on Teaching Methods. Professor Hannon is the co-author of From Theory to Practice: Employment Discrimination Law (with Rachel Croskery-Roberts), and is under contract with Aspen Publishers to co-author From Theory to Practice: Employment Law (also with Croskery-Roberts). You can follow Professor Hannon on Twitter @mch_tweets -As always, if you have any suggestions for an episode topic, please let us know!You can email leslie@lawtofact.com or tweet @lawtofact.-Find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!Review us on iTunes, your opinion matters!-Stay updated on all things Law to Fact!Join our mailing list by visiting www.LawToFact.com.-This episode is sponsored by Kaplan Bar Review. Kaplan Bar Review will get you ready to take on test day with confidence by offering $100 off live and on-demand Bar Review with offer code Leslie100.Visit kaplanbarrevie