Case Reading and Legal Reasoning
Read and practice freely
No account or prerequisite completion is needed for independent study. These practice results are not supervised credit or a certificate.
Overview
Read judicial opinions with attention to procedural posture, identify holdings and reasoning, synthesize rules across cases, and analyze changed facts. Second course in the J.D. Preparation pathway; includes an original three-opinion practice packet.
Disclaimer: Independent educational preparation only; not legal advice, university credit, a J.D. degree, or a determination of bar eligibility. Alder law and opinions are fictional teaching materials. Research current jurisdiction-specific law for real matters.
Lesson plan
Module 1. Reading an opinion and procedural posture
- Finding your way through a judicial opinion
- Procedural posture, fact status and the record
Module 2. Issues, holdings, reasoning and dicta
- Framing the issue and stating a bounded holding
- Explaining reasoning and reading separate opinions fairly
Module 3. Rule synthesis, analogy and distinction
- Synthesizing a rule from several decisions
- Using analogy and distinction on a new fact pattern
Module 4. Statutory interpretation and changed facts
- Interpreting statutory text in context
- Three briefs, a synthesis memo and changed facts