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Moot Court: Writing
a brief
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The goal of a written brief in a civil case is to convince a court of the logic of your position in light of the facts of your case and the precedents of case law.
The structure of a brief is as follows:
Name of court and the case, for instance:
MOOT COURT OF RADFORD UNIVERSITY
Click & Clack
v.
Smith & Wesson
Moot Court of
The Dept. of Media Studies
Radford University
COMPLAINT
Leave one third to one half of the page open at the top. Then start with opening statement (#1 below) and continue through the six sections).
Sections of a brief
1. Opening statement or questions presented. This is a general statement about the nature of the case and the Constitutionally relevant issues in play.
2. Parties to the complaint -- Who are they, where are they served (email addresses are OK). What attorneys are serving for plaintiff or defendant. Be clear about whose brief this is.
3. Jurisdiction and venue -- Is this a moot case? Are we in a moot court? (Yes of course. In some situations, though, the question of venue is important). So here you just say that that this is a moot case and you're in a moot court.
4. Facts -- Procedural history and things that happened to lead up to the case.
5. Causes of Action -- What laws have been broken? What cases can you cite as precedents? This is the most important section of the brief and must be well organized and supported by research which must be accurately cited.
So, for example, let's say you are arguming that student media should be free to advertise beer and liquor . How would you make your argument? You might start with noting the longstanding regard for free speech on campus in various cases and cite three or four. Then you might note how the court decided 44 Liquormart and the Coors alcohol advertising cases. Finally, you might apply the Central Hudson test for advertising in this particular case in order to show why a regulation restricting student advertising is overly broad.
So you go from a broad argument to a narrower argument, backed up by cases. Then you apply a test or precedent from previous cases to this particular instance.
Overall you should cite six or more cases and discuss how that precedent supports your argument.
6. Prayer for Damages -- Here you ask the court to do something -- Quash the subpeona, grant a motion for summary dismissal, award puntive damages of 10 kazillion dollars to your law firm -- whatever would be equitable.
ACLU briefs For example, here is an amicus brief in the case of a suit over anonymity and libel.