“The brief,” Southwestern Law School's Professor Paul Bateman explains, “is not an end in itself but, like a hammer, is a tool that lets you nail down a legal concept.”  Rather than setting forth a detailed format for case briefing, Bateman describes the why and wherefore of preparing a brief. To help law students avoid much of the inevitable frustration of their initial briefing experiences, he cautions them never to lose sight of the target: the final examination. By mapping the relationship between case reading, case briefing, classroom discussion, course outlining and exam answering, Bateman provides a very instructive easy to follow set of guidelines.