Activity
1. Begin the class by explaining that when a lawyer goes in
front of the court to present an appeal he or she generally
has thirty minutes to present the oral arguments. Therefore,
everything in an appeal must be pertinent to the case.
With this in mind, ask the class to make a list on
the board or overhead of what information the justices
would need to know. In other words, what are the sections
of a legal brief? If the students know the correct
names for the sections use these. If not, write up
on the board what they think needs to be in a certain
section and at the end of the brainstorming session
give them the correct names and the sections which
they may not have listed. Here are the parts of the
legal brief:
1.
Facts of the case -- a concise statement of the facts
from a legal point of view
2. Issue of the case -- what parties had standing,
and what specific concepts and terms were involved
3. Decision of the court -- including an analysis of any
concurring or dissenting opinions in previous case precedent
4. Reasoning of the court -- analysis of the thinking process
and logic used by previous judges
5. Citations to support previous judgments -- only the important
precedent cases, not all of them
6. Rule of law -- a concise summary of the main precedent
established, separate from the dicta, or circumstances of
the cases
7. Dissent -- other rules of law implicit or inherent
in dissenting opinions
2.
Give the students each a copy of Ashcroft, Attorney
General v. American Civil Liberties
Union et al. to read. After the students have carefully
read this brief have them get into small groups or
pairs to label the parts of the brief. Tell them
that some
of the parts may be combined and that parts may also
be missing. If the group has more than one opinion
on a part they may write down both labels. Encourage
the
students to thoughtfully discuss the document and
to become familiar with its language and style of presentation
rather than focusing solely on quickly labeling the
parts.
3.
As the class goes over the Ashcroft, Attorney General
v. American Civil Liberties Union et al. document,
ask the students to not only point out the different
sections
of the legal brief, but to explain how they knew
what each section was. After the sections have been
labeled
tell the students that the government teacher will
be combining some sections when doing the moot
court activity.
4.
The Facts and Issue of the case are combined in the first
paragraph. (To protect minors … to
harmful materials.)
The Decision of the court is the second paragraph.
(Held … Pp.6-15.)
The last three paragraphs are a combination of
the Reasoning of the court, Citations to support
previous
judgments,
and Rule of law.
There is no Dissent in this particular brief. Closure
Remind the students that a legal brief is by its nature supposed to be to the
point. Even though briefs may be as long as 50 pages, every sentence
in the brief must address the points being argued. Ask the students to
come up with the skills that they have learned in English throughout
their years in school that would make them effective lawyers and capable
brief writers. For example, research skills, writing persuasive papers,
even learning correct grammar and more sophisticated vocabulary are all
helpful in the area of law.
Embedded
Assessment
In this lesson the written work of the students is one
way to evaluate their engagement with the material. Check
to see not only how accurately they were able to analyze
the legal brief given to them in class but also how well
they were able to present their findings to the class
and defend or explain how they determined where the different
sections of the brief were located. How well did they
work in their groups? Were they on task during the discussion
time? Their contributions to the class discussion at
the beginning of this lesson can also be used to assess
how well the students understood some of the concepts
from the engage lesson.
Homework
None. |
