Law Documents in a Nutshell

Ramakrishnan M writes "LawMeme has a two part article (more to come) on reading and interpreting Legalese for geeks, titled "Law School in a nutshell". Here is the Part 1 and part 2"

Comments

A couple of minor things......

[idiotnot]

On Citations...

XXX U.S. XXXX (19XX): That's the official citation of a case. Often, if you go into a library, you won't find an official reporter (and you probably wouldn't want the official reporter, anyway). Lexis and West Publishing put out what are called unofficial reporters, the Lawyer's Edition (L.Ed.) and....I can't remember the other one at the moment IIRC (Supreme Court Reports). These have all sorts of annotations that lead you to other important info regarding the case, or cases cited within the decision. Sometimes in the decision itself, if you're not familiar with a case that's cited by the writer, you won't understand the argument. Some judges are especially obtuse (think writing code without good comments).

The Brief:

Here's the thing....the brief is far from the full story when considering a case. The brief puts one side's best spin on the case. It's designed to be persuasive, as well as being informative. Both sides submit them, blah blah blah. But, especially in cases before the Supreme Court, other factors come into play. A well-written amicus brief can have quite a bit of influence; even if the two parties involved do not solicit it, nor endorse it.

After the all the briefs are submitted, the justices hear oral arguments, where they're free to clarify things that don't make sense.

In a sense, the briefs discussed in this article are Release Notes on the case....they make the argument, but don't tell the full story.

But it's still a human decision

[avoisin]

Beyond all law, beyond all legal precedent, beyond all unbiased opinion however, is the one true cardinal law - that all judgements ultimately come down to a judge, a panel of judges, or a jury, who lay down a verdict as they see fit. They must rationalize and have good reasoning for their decision, but time and time again lawyers after a case scratch their head and say "Wow, I can't believe I lost (or won) that case!"

It's for this reason that you can always TRY to sue, no matter how silly the claim, because you just might win, even if the laws of the past seem against you.

For anyone who lives in Toronto...

[The Wing Lover]

Seneca College's Faculty of Continuing Education offers a terrific course. It's meant as an elective, but anyone can take the course even if they're not pursuing a diploma. It gives you a great overview of the Canadian legal system, and it's taught by a lawyer who obviously loves the law and its practice, and is very enthusiastic.

I'd recommend the course for anyone living in Toronto.

The course is _Law and the Citizen_, CAN271.