Writing Briefs and Finding Court Docs - Business Law - Ross Student Group - Kresge Research Guides at University of Michigan

Writing Legal Briefs

Legal Writing I and II by Ben L. Fernandez
Call Number: KF250 .F476 2020
ISBN: 9798746520340
Publication Date: 2021-04-29
This book contains a brief discussion of all of the topics covered in a law school courses on legal writing, including a typical first semester course on legal research, analysis and writing an objective memorandum, as well as a second semester course on persuasion and writing an appellate brief, motion to dismiss or motion for summary judgment.
Elegant Legal Writing by Ryan McCarl
Call Number: KF250
ISBN: 9780520395800
Publication Date: 2024-02-06
Readers will learn the essentials of effective legal composition: Writing clear, efficient prose Crafting strong arguments.

Legal Brief Templates
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit provides templates for Opening, Response, and Reply briefs.
How to write a legal brief (Westlaw)
This article from Thomson Reuters Westlaw lists the basic elements of a legal brief.
Drafting Briefs to a Court
CUNY School of Law provides resources that exemplify the components of a conventional structure for a brief to a trial court, and a paradigm for a legal argument.
What is a legal brief and how do you write one?
This blog post from One Legal lays out the basics and components of a legal brief.

The Law of Law School The Essential Guide for First-Year Law Students by Ferguson, Andrew G
Call Number: KF272 .F474 2020
ISBN: 1479801615
Publication Date: 2020
Topics on exams, classroom expectations, outlining, case briefing, professors, and mental health are all broken down into the rules that form the hidden law of law school.

Court Documents

Most documents with the Federal court are filed electronically through through a system known as PACER. However, these aren't generally available to the public, except through a pay-per-view account. However, many courts will post documents to their respective websites. If you are looking for court orders, motions, etc., you can try databases like Justia, NexisUni or Hein Online or going directly to the proper court jurisdiction's website.

Justia Dockets & Filings
Justia offers a Docket Search option for case filings in multiple jurisdictions.
Oyez
Oyez (pronounced OH-yay) is a free law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law. It is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone.

Nexis Uni
Full-text access to over 15,000 sources of news, business, legal, and reference information, including hundreds of U.S. and foreign newspapers, legal and business publications, wire services, broadcast media transcripts, and trade/news magazines. Here you will also find federal and state legal cases and some patent information.
HeinOnline
HeinOnline contains a comprehensive database of law-related journals and magazines. HeinOnline also provides coverage of US Federal laws and regulations, State session laws, International laws and treaties, Congressional and Federal agency documents, and case law.