Just Briefs Preparing for Practice [Connected eBook with Study Center]

by Oates, Laurel Currie; Enquist, Anne; Francis, Jeremy; Stephen, Amanda Maus

• ISBN13: 9798894107677
• ISBN10: 8894107671
• eBook ISBN(s): 9798894107684
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2025-09-15
• Publisher: Aspen Publishing

Summary

Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook with Study Center on Casebook Connect, including academic lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities. Access also includes practice questions, an outline tool, and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes.

Just Briefs: Preparing for Practice, Fifth Edition, features the authors’ famously effective step-by-step approach to writing both motion briefs and appellate briefs and to presenting an effective oral argument. Using numerous examples, Just Briefs walks students through the process of identifying arguments and a theory of the case, selecting an organizational scheme, presenting the facts, issues, and law in a light favorable to their client, and countering the other side’s arguments. Included in the book are annotated examples of briefs in support and opposition to a motion for summary judgment and appellate briefs on a federal issue.

New to the Fifth Edition:

• Updated and expanded sections on bias-free language throughout the book.
• Updates and advice about the use of Generative AI in the legal writing classroom and the practice of law.
• Revised sample briefs.

Professors and students will benefit from:

• The authors’ trademark straightforward, step-by-step approach.
• Helpful examples of motion and appellate briefs.
• Ideas about how to present an effective oral argument.
• Federal rules and samples of federal briefs, valuable resources for participants in moot court competitions.
• Practice Pointers that offer real-world advice for writing persuasive briefs.

Table of Contents

SUMAMRY OF CONTENTS

Contents 
Preface 
Acknowledgments 

Part I: The Art (and Science) of Advocacy 
Chapter 1: Introduction to Rhetoric and Bias 

Part II: Motion Briefs 
Chapter 2: Motion Briefs 
Chapter 3: Deciding on a Theory of the Case 
Chapter 4: Drafting the Caption and the Introduction 
Chapter 5: Drafting the Statement of Facts 
Chapter 6: Ordering the Issues and Arguments 
Chapter 7: Drafting the Issue Statements or Questions Presented 
Chapter 8: Drafting the Headings 
Chapter 9: Drafting the Arguments 
Chapter 10: Drafting the Prayer for Relief and Signing the Brief 
Chapter 11: Sample Briefs 

Part III: Appellate Briefs 
Chapter 12: Practicing Before an Appellate Court 121
Chapter 13: Drafting an Appellate Brief: Audience, Purpose, and
Conventions 127
Chapter 14: Getting the Case: United States v. Josephy 
Chapter 15: Preparing to Write the Brief 
Chapter 16: Planning the Brief 
Chapter 17: Beginning the Appellate Brief: The Cover, Tables, and
Jurisdictional Statement 
Chapter 18: Drafting the Statement of Issues Presented for Review 
Chapter 19: Drafting the Statement of the Case and Statement
of Facts 
Chapter 20: Drafting the Summary of the Argument 
Chapter 21: Drafting the Argumentative Headings
Chapter 22: Drafting the Arguments 
Chapter 23: Completing the Brief 
Chapter 24: Sample Briefs 

Part IV: Oral Advocacy 
Chapter 25: Preparing and Presenting an Effective Oral Argument 

Glossary of Terms 
Index