IRAC! IRAC! IRAC!: How to Brief Any Legal Issue
29(2) Southern Law Journal (Fall 2019)
17 Pages Posted: 24 Aug 2016 Last revised: 6 Jan 2020
Date Written: September 14, 2017
Abstract
The purpose of this short essay is to provide introductory guidance to busy students of business or constitutional law about how to go about briefing any legal issue, including a Supreme Court opinion. Others have stated that the most difficult thing about the study of law is learning how to read cases and statutes and finding a way to organize the materials into a workable format. Our goal is to convey these basic analytical and briefing concepts in a format readable within 20 minutes of diligent effort. Ample additional resources are presented in our footnotes for those desiring a more robust discussion.
Keywords: Application, Business Law, Case Analysis, Constitutional Law, Framing, IRAC, Legal Analysis, Legal Research and Writing, Legal Skills, Literature and Law, Logical Structure, Metaphor, Original Meaning, Rhetoric, Rule, Supreme Court, Writing
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