Brief writing: the brief to counsel, the case brief and the brief of arguments
LUG-105 English and Legal Language, Unit IV: Brief writing. · LLB · 60 min
What a brief is in each of its three senses: the instructions and papers sent to counsel, the student's and researcher's case brief (facts, issue, rule, application, conclusion), and the written submission or brief of arguments filed in court. The lecture gives the format of each, a complete model case brief of Mohori Bibee v. Dharmodas Ghose (1903), a model brief of arguments in a bail matter, and the qualities that make a brief persuasive. Brief writing entered the paper in 2025-26.
Objectives
- Explain the concept of brief writing and its three forms in legal practice.
- Set out the format of a brief to counsel, a case brief (IRAC / FIRAC) and a brief of arguments.
- Prepare a case brief of a reported judgment, identifying its ratio decidendi.
- Draft a short brief of arguments with a chronology, point headings and authorities.
- Explain the importance of brief writing and the qualities of a good brief.
Slides
- What a brief is: three senses of one word
- The brief to counsel: instructing the advocate who will argue
- The case brief: reading a judgment with FIRAC
- Model case brief: Mohori Bibee v. Dharmodas Ghose (1903)
- The brief of arguments: written submissions in Indian courts
- Model brief of arguments: a bail application
- Importance of brief writing, and the qualities of a good brief
- Brief, memorial, plaint: the same skeleton, different purposes
- How the examiner asks it
Loading the lecture…