As a law student, knowing how to write a case brief is an essential skill to develop. Case briefing plays a crucial role in building a course outline and serves as one of the most important study tools for law students. You’ll thank yourself for a good case brief when you go to study for finals! Understanding the importance of case briefs in law school is key. Your case briefs will serve as building blocks for your course outline and help you recall facts, understand key elements, and prepare effectively for class. In addition, case briefing and the Socratic Method work together to help students think like lawyers. To prepare law school case briefs, it is important to follow a case brief template and examples to ensure all essential elements are included. Good case briefing tips for law students are to keep case briefs concise, with a one-page summary being ideal and make sure to include the title and citation, facts, issues, decision, reasoning, opinions, and analysis. Essential elements of a case brief include summarizing the complaint or indictment, any relevant rules within the law, areas in dispute, and framing issues as a series of questions that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no".