Guidelines+for+Writing+a+Legal+Summary

=**This information comes directly from the ELC:**=

You have been instructed to review recent court cases related to your chosen school law issue. You must select two of these related cases to read, and then write a legal summary for each court case.
 * Instructions for Writing your Legal Summary**
 * **Name of Case** - Write the name of the case. It will probably show two parties.
 * **Example**: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

>> >> The citation below tells us that a case called Furman v. Georgia was decided in 1972 and can be found in Volume 408 of the United States Reports, starting on page 238. >> >>
 * **Citation** - Write the case citation. A case citation includes the location of the Court’s Opinion and the year of the decision.
 * **Example**: 347 U.S. 483 (1954) //(for Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka)//


 * **Date** - Identify the year that a decision was delivered by the court. It can be found at the end of the citation.
 * **Example**: 1954

>> This case was actually a consolidation of a number of cases from different States. Although the facts were somewhat different in each case, the common theme was that in each one, African-American students, through their legal representatives, sought the aid of the courts in obtaining admission to the public schools of their community on a non-segregated basis. In each situation, they were denied admission to schools attended by white students under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to race.
 * **Facts** - In one to two paragraphs, write a clear summary of the incident that brought the case to court. Please only identify that information that is needed to clearly understand the case. In other words, list only the important facts needed to understand the ruling and reasoning of the court.
 * **Example**:


 * **Issue** - In your own words, phrase the legal question that the court is trying to answer in this case. The issue may or may not be clearly stated in the case. Phrase this in your own words and in the form of a question (i.e., “Can a school principal…?”) that can be answered with a “Yes” or a “No.”
 * **Example:** Do laws permitting or requiring racially segregated public schools deprive African-American students of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution?

>> African-American students, who were denied admission to public schools based on their race, were deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Public school systems cannot constitutionally operate a school system in which admission to schools is conditioned upon the race of the students.
 * **Holding** - The holding is the decision of the court and tells the answer to the question phrased in the “Issue.” In the case, the decision may even be simply worded (i.e., “We hold that it did,” or, “Yes.”) Write a statement containing the decision of the court in response to the issue.
 * **Example**:

>> The Court reviewed its holding in the 1896 case of __Plessy v. Ferguson__, in which the “separate but equal” doctrine was established. Under that doctrine, equality of treatment is accorded when the races are provided substantially equal facilities, even though the facilities are separate. The Court concluded that in the field of public education the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. The Court found that education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education demonstrate the recognition of the importance of education to our society. The Court found that segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal education opportunities, even if the physical facilities and other tangible factors may be equal.
 * **Rationale** - Consider why the court reached the decision that it did. What arguments justify the holding? In court cases, judges often write many pages justifying their decisions and cite several previous cases. You need to concisely state the rationale provided by the court’s majority in support of their decision.
 * **Example**:

Tips for Writing a Legal Summary

 * Don’t summarize a case unless you have read it through at least once.
 * It may be helpful for you to revisit and complete the “Facts” section after completing the “Issue” section.
 * Communicate the important ideas in a clear and concise manner.
 * Include only relevant details of the case, but be sure that one can broadly understand the case without reading too much additional information.
 * ou may find that Supreme Court cases have “notes” at the beginning. These are “lawyer cliff notes” and are not part of the opinion. Do not quote or refer to these at all.