Why Brief?

I recently read some advice to law students that explained that “… briefing cases is counterproductive.”  The proponent of this proposition bases this advice on two pillars:
(1)  Briefing misleads students into thinking that knowledge of the particulars of a case is important with respect to earning a good grade; and,
(2)  Briefing uses up all the time a student could otherwise use more productively for exam preparation.
Of course I disagree with that advice.  Here’s why:
(1)  Students should understand before they sit down to brief their first cases that the particulars of 90 percent of the cases they cover in their 1L year are unimportant (only, that is, in the sense that they will not be asked to replicate the facts in an exam, and the entire grade in a 1L class is more-or-less exam dependent).
(2)  Briefing should use up only a segment of a student's total weekly study time.
Then why brief cases?  The answer is not because someday we’ll find questions on a final exam asking for the facts of a case we studied during the semester.  Here’s a great answer from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law (it’s in their web-based orientation materials from a couple years ago, included as a source below).
Briefing allows students to participate fully in the classroom experience, to navigate through the class discussion, and to be prepared to discuss the particulars of an assigned case in detail. Specifically, briefing helps you in at least five ways. First, briefing clarifies your understanding of the case by breaking the case into its component parts. Second, briefs are indispensable in class. Professors often call on students to recite part or all of their briefs. Even if the professor does not ask you to brief" the case, having a brief at your fingertips gives you the information you need to answer questions and follow the discussion. Third, the briefs you create over the course of the semester contribute to your global understanding of the course B the - the big picture." Fourth, your briefs become vital components of the course outline you will compile as you study for final examinations. Fifth, briefing cases will help you develop critical reading, legal analysis, and writing skills: skills you will use throughout your legal career.
As to the time factor, if you find that you are using “all” of your time reading and briefing, you’re doing something unproductive.  To do your personal best in law school plan on spending about three hours of study for every hour of class.  For a three-credit class, that’s about nine hours per week.  Sure, you’ll spend much of that nine hours briefing cases during the first couple weeks of school, but you ought to speed up quickly, so that you can attend to the other critically important facets of study – what I call the “Law CATS.” 

After you get rolling, several weeks into each course, you ought to be at a point where briefing takes up only twenty to thirty percent of your weekly study time.  If you are spending much more time than that after four weeks of law school, think about visiting your school’s academic support office.  (Or click on the “contact” link below and send me a note.  I’m here to help.)
Sources used in this blog entry include:  
mcgeorge.edu
wulaw.wustl.edu
lawschoolninjabook